Ozone Alarm.

New measurements by the United Nations show an alarming decrease in the size of the earth's ozone layer over Antarctica. The World Meteorological Organization (WMO) reported on 29 August that its latest satellite observations of the sunlit portion of Antarctica show an average decrease of about 30 per cent in the total amount of ozone. The alarming rate of decrease could lead to a much greater ozone hole, WMO warned. The ozone layer reflects heat away from the Earth and protects the planet from dangerous levels of ultraviolet (UV-B) rays from the sun. The solar radiation causes an increase in skin cancers, the suppression of immune systems, and the exacerbation of eye disorders. The depletion of the ozone layer is blamed on chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs), which can be found in common household products such as aerosols, foams, refrigeration, air conditioners, solvents and fire extinguishers. Governments adopted in 1985 the Vienna Convention on the Protection of the Ozone Layer and, two years later, the Montreal Protocol on Substances that Deplete the Ozone Layer to reduce and eventually eliminate the emissions of man-made ozone depleting substances.