Ozone hole optomism

[Karlin]

What this article does not mention is that BROMIDE is still being produced and used in the USA , in HUGE quantities. Bromide is another Ozone depleting chemical, and used in fertilizer.

NOTE to Consumers, and People who eat Food - go organic, and you won't be supporting the industries that use bromide.

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The oxone is still being depleted by the CFCs we produced long ago too. These harmfull chemicals are in old refigerators and so on, and they are not being properly cleaned up when disposed of.

I would suggest we get a program going where they are fully recovered. And I suggest that corporations who were involed in the production, and profits, of CFCs, should fund the program. If not, let our government do it becacause it needs to be done.

Health and environmental concerns will only grow because it takes a long time to wear down the effects of these chemcials, and because we are still producing and using Bromide.

Europe banned Bromide long ago.
? Canada - anyone know our status on Bromide production, imports, and useage? Rev?

Karlin

------------link, article quotes -

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/4506182.stm

New research from the US and Canada indicates ozone-eating chemicals are still being released into the atmosphere in large quantities.

The latest modelling predicts the protective gas layer found in the stratosphere will not now recover its health until about the year 2065.

Ozone is a molecule that is composed of three oxygen atoms. It is responsible for filtering out harmful ultra-violet radiation (less than 290 nanometres) from the Sun.

The gas is constantly being made and destroyed in the stratosphere, about 30 km above the Earth. In an unpolluted atmosphere, this cycle of production and decomposition is in equilibrium.

But CFCs and the other Montreal-restricted chemicals will rise into the stratosphere where they are broken down by the Sun's rays. Chlorine and bromine atoms released from the man-made products then act as catalysts to decompose ozone.

This year's Antarctic ozone hole was among the biggest ever recorded, extending over an area of about 26 million square km.

 

[no1important]

From Agriculture Canada

A teaser:

At the 1997 meeting of the Parties to the Montreal Protocol on Substances that Deplete the Ozone Layer, the international community agreed that industrial (developed) countries would freeze their production and consumption of methyl bromide at 1991 levels. These countries agreed to a 25% reduction by 1998, 50% by the year 2001, 70% by the year 2003, and 100% by the year 2005. Developing countries agreed to a 100% phase-out of methyl bromide by the year 2015. At present, Canada has reduced its consumption of methyl bromide by 38%.

Canada does not manufacture methyl bromide but imports about 200 tonnes a year, of which approximately 50% is used to control pests in food processing facilities, 45% for soil fumigation and 5% to fumigate commodities. While the quantities are small, they represent significant economic activity, including fumigation in flour mills, food processing plants, and for some strawberry, raspberry and blueberry nursery stock, much of which is exported to the United States.

The phase-out of methyl bromide requires the development of alternative technologies or practices to replace it. It also creates a market for expertise and for alternatives developed in Canada. [teaser]

Click above link for rest.

I think it should be banned, period.

 

[Karlin]

Very informative, TQ.

Canada signed on, thats good. Too bad we are still using it - duh!

I am fairly sure that the USA is a primary offender {they probably don't believe the science of Bromide and Ozone depletion. Or they believe god will save them as the chosen ones when the sky falls.]

 

[I think not]

Very informative, TQ.

Canada signed on, thats good. Too bad we are still using it - duh!

I am fairly sure that the USA is a primary offender {they probably don't believe the science of Bromide and Ozone depletion. Or they believe god will save them as the chosen ones when the sky falls.]

U.S. Methyl Bromide Phase Out - Environmental Protection Agency

25% reduction in 1999
50% reduction in 2001
70% reduction in 2003
100% reduction in 2005
Preshipment and quarantine uses exempt
Critical and emergency uses allocated after 2005

"After 2005 methyl bromide production and importation will be halted, with the exception of amounts needed for preshipment and quarantine uses, as well as what is deemed necessary for critical and emergency uses."