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- From: EcoNet via Jym Dyer <jym@mica.berkeley.edu>
- Newsgroups: misc.activism.progressive,alt.activism,talk.environment
- Subject: INFO: Methyl Bromide a Major Ozone-Depleter
- Followup-To: talk.environment
- Date: 1 Sep 1992 23:26:35 GMT
- Organization: The Naughty Peahen Party Line
- Lines: 101
- Approved: map@pencil.cs.missouri.edu
- Message-ID: <EcoNet.1Sep1992.8am3@naughty-peahen.org>
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- Originator: jym@remarque.berkeley.edu
-
- [From EcoNet ecotopia.news Conference]
-
- Ozone Killer: U.S. Rebuffed
-
- by Dina Goodwill and Patty Clary
-
- A U.S. proposal to phase out ozone-depleting methyl bromide was
- rejected last month by parties to the Montreal Protocol, and
- international pact on reducing substances that deplete the
- earth's ozone layer.
-
- Led by pressure from Israel, which makes the fumigant from
- salts extracted from the Red Sea, developing nations meeting
- in Switzerland refused to accept scientific evidence of the
- dangers. Surprisingly, the U.S. was the only nation offering
- a phase-out proposal.
-
- Recent evidence from United Nations Environment Program (UNEP)
- scientists reveals that methyl bromide's capacity to thin the
- earth's ozone layer is far greater than previously understood,
- and that ozone depletion will begin to peak in less than 10
- years.
-
- Methyl bromide is an odorless, extremely toxic gas that is
- widely used around the world as an effective, quick and easy
- biocide.
-
- The sun's harmful ultra-violet rays (UV-Bs), passing through a
- thinning ozone layer, are considered by many experts to be the
- greatest threat to human life. Increased UV-Bs due to ozone
- thinning will cause cataracts which lead to blindness, non-
- melanoma skin cancer and, most importantly, immuno-suppression
- disorders that weaken the body's ability to fight off disease.
-
- Global Implications
-
- Phytoplankton, the basis of the marine food chain, are already
- stressed by current levels of UV-Bs, and there is evidence that
- most food and forest crops will suffer, too.
-
- A report released in December on an assessment conducted by 58
- international scientists for UNEP concluded that a 10% reduction
- in annual atmospheric methyl bromide levels would quickly reduce
- ozone depletion equal to an accelerated chlorofluorocarbon (CFC)
- phase-out of three years.
-
- This new evidence prompted Friends of the Earth, the Natural
- Resources Defense Council and the Environmental Defense Fund
- to petition the EPA to phase out methyl bromide under the
- ozone-depletion provisions of the U.S. Clean Air Act. But
- the petition deadline has passed without a response.
-
- Sixty-three nations, including the U.S., have ratified the
- ``Montreal Protocol on Substances that Deplete the Ozone
- Layer,'' a treaty setting timetables for reducing or
- eliminating ozone-destructive chemicals.
-
- At the next meeting in Copenhagen this November, the CFC
- phase-out -- previously set for the year 2000 and now at
- almost 50% of schedule -- will probably be accelerated due
- to recent research that shows ozone depletion is twice what
- had been predicted.
-
- Soil Sterilizer
-
- Methyl bromide is relied on to support production of high-value
- crops and to fumigate structures and imported and exported food
- and logs. Its main use is to ``sterilize'' soil by injecting the
- gas into the ground, accounting for 80% of global consumption.
-
- Scientists once assumed that methyl bromide was too unstable to
- reach the stratosphere, but recent research found that enough
- does to be a problem. Along with its own direct effect on
- the ozone layer, methyl bromide is a catalyst to the ozone
- destruction caused by chlorine atoms released by CFCs, and so
- becomes more lethal to ozone as chlorine levels increase in
- the stratosphere.
-
- Chlorine levels, mostly provided by CFCs, are projected to peak
- by the year 2000. If human-contributed emissions of methyl
- bromide are not phased out by this time, its destructive
- capacity could increase up to fourfold.
-
- The Arcata-based Californians for Alternatives to Toxics (CATs)
- has taken the lead among environmental groups nationally by
- disseminating documents and facts on methyl bromide for the
- public interest.
-
- The CATs executive director recently participated in an
- international UNEP workshop in Washington, D.C. convened to
- produce an assessment for alternatives to methyl bromide for
- the Montreal Protocol.
-
- CATs has written a summary based on UNEP science reports that
- is available upon request. Contact CATs at 860-1/2 11th St.,
- Arcata, CA 95521.
-
- (From ECONEWS, Newsletter of the Northcoast Environmental
- Center, 879 9th St., Arcata, California 95521, U.S.A., August
- 1992. Non-profit reprints OK with credit to ECONEWS; we like
- to see clips.)
-