The law was vigorously opposed by Mobil Corporation and Amoco Corporation, both major producers of plastic bags and foam food containers. The Mobil ads pretend to compare the advantages of PS foam to paper, and they conclude PS foam is better, or at least no worse. However, Mobil omits most of the relevant facts about PS foams. Diane de Coninck, a student at University of Vermont, spent the last year studying the environmental effects of PS foam vs. paper, so a good deal is known about the relative hazards of these products. Judged against facts presented by Ms. de Coninck, the Suffolk County law is definitely a step in the right direction, though not a large enough step.
Ozone is definitely a dangerous pollutant.
In animal studies, long-term exposure to high levels of ozone has produced permanent structural damage to animal lungs while both short and long term exposure has been found to decrease the animal's capability to fight infection. In other words, prolonged exposure to atmospheric ozone above legal limits might be expected to damage the immune system. In its ads, Mobil does not mention this side effect of foam coffee cups. Furthermore, PS foam is made from petroleum. There were 54 billion plastic food service products sold in the U.S. in 1986.