|
|
Article: The next hurdle in ozone repair. (ozone depletion due to the use of methyl bromide)
- Article from:
- World Watch
- Article date:
- November 1, 1996
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 1996 Worldwatch Institute. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
|
Early this year, after heated debate, California lawmakers postponed a ban on the use of the pesticide methyl bromide. The issue was safety: activists cited nearly 300 poisoning cases as reason to allow the ban to go into effect in March, as was required under California law, barring a clean bill of health from the long-delayed and still incomplete toxicology studies. But the controversy may mark the beginning of a much broader political battle over a planned global phaseout of the chemical for a different reason: methyl bromide is damaging the upper atmosphere's ozone layer, which shields the earth's surface from excess ultraviolet light. The bromine in methyl bromide is 50 ...