Word: cfc
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Dates: during 1980-1989
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Ozone Depletion. Next April, representatives from scores of countries will meet in London to complete the agreement to phase out CFC production by the year 2000. But unless all major nations accept the ban, efforts to halt ozone depletion may prove fruitless...
...resulting in serious depletion of the earth's protective ozone layer. A group of British scientists reported in 1985 that the ozone layer over Antartica had been diminished by 40 percent. Despite global agreements to curb their use, CFCs' destructive potential lasts long after they are released. And even CFC- free styromfoams are not harmless; they will clog our landfills for centuries to come...
...Helsinki last week, representatives from 86 countries said they favored a total ban on certain chlorofluorocarbons, man-made chemicals believed to be destroying the ozone, / by the end of the century at the latest. That goes far beyond the 1987 Montreal Protocol, which called for a 50% cut in CFC manufacture...
...reason politicians are acting so swiftly on the CFC problem may be that the threat is indisputable. Strong evidence of the effect emerged in 1985, when British researchers announced the existence of a seasonal "hole" in the ozone layer over Antarctica. That was worrisome: ozone between ten miles and 30 miles up absorbs the sun's ultraviolet radiation, which has been linked to cataracts, skin cancers and weakened immune systems in humans and other animals, as well as to damage to plants. Data-gathering flights in the Antarctic in 1987 made the connection between CFCs and ozone destruction...
That prospect helped jolt the Europeans into moving on the CFC issue. And at a London conference on the ozone issue this week, E.C. ministers will try to persuade other nations to adopt the CFC ban. High on the lobbying list: developing countries, such as India and China, that are just starting to mass- produce refrigerators and other CFC-using products...