Depletion of Ozone levels leads to catastrophe: scientist

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Inaugurating a two-day international workshop on `Energy, Environment, Education, organised by the department of civil engineering JNTU college of engineering here, he said, under the Montreal Protocol 1987, a treaty signed for the protection of Ozone layer, the use of Chloro Fluoro Carbons (CFC) was to be banned by the year 2000.

After this the ozone layer is expected to slowly recover over a period of 50 years.

Although the use of CFCs has been reduced and now banned in most countries, other chemicals and industrial compounds such as bromine, halocarbons and nitrous oxides from fertilizers continue to affect the ozone layer.

The Ozone depletion can have adverse effect on all organisms from the simplest single celled plants to insects, fish, birds and mammals alike. It can cause skin cancer, eye damage and weakening of human immune system, besides creating problems in terrestrial plants and animals. Hence, it should be the prime duty of everyone to reduce the use of hazardous chemicals and other pollutants that adversely affect the environment, he warned.

--UNI