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
NNTP-Posting-Host: remarque.berkeley.edu
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.)
Newsgroups: misc.activism.progressive