SOMETIMES, THE WORLD RESPONDS TO SCIENCE 
Wednesday, October 26, 2011, 04:07 AM
In the 1970s scientists observed that the ozone layer (vital in protecting us from the most harmful UV light emitted from the Sun) was depleting by about 4 percent per decade. Chemist Professor Frank Rowland from the University of California and his associate Mario Molina worked out that one of the major causes of this deterioration was the release into the atmosphere of man-made halocarbon refrigerants (mainly CFC or chlorofluorocarbon).

The aerosol and halocarbon industries mounted a campiagn to dispute the findings. The industry manazine Chemical Weekly reported that the Chairman of the Board of DuPont (the major manufacturer of CFCs) claimed ozone depletion theory was "a science fiction tale...a load of rubbish...utter nonsense".

In 1987 world governments agreed to ban CFC production. Unfortunately, CFCs have a very long life so they continue to damage the ozone layer, but at least it is not getting worse.

This was an example of scientists discovering a problem, alerting governments, working on a solution and convincing governments to act. Industry complied after a rear-guard action. I would suggest that one of the reasons that the response was relatively quick and harmonious was that industry already had relatively inexpensive alternatives in place so that the change was no disruptive to society.

Dr Mostafa Tolba of the UN Environment Programme was quoted in The New Scientist magazine in 1990 as saying: "The chemical industry supported the Montreal Protocol in 1987 because it set up a worldwide schedule for phasing out CFCs no longer protected by patents. This provided companies with an equal opportunity to market new, more profitable compounds."

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