Greenfreeze: An Ozone Solution Waiting to Happen

["Greenbase" <greenbas@gb.greenpeace.org>]

GREENFREEZE:  AN OZONE SOLUTION WAITING TO HAPPEN
An ecofriendly fridge launches Canadian tour --- will North
American  industry meet the challenge? 

Montreal (April 9, 1997) --- In the wake of disturbing new
evidence about increased ozone depletion over Canada, Greenpeace
has launched a tour of an ozone friendly refrigerator which
offers a clear, cost-effective solution to an extremely
dangerous environmental problem.

During the next four weeks, residents in the province of Quebec
will have the opportunity to see an environmental innovation
that now dominates the European appliance market and is making
inroads in both  China and South America.  The tour, which
begins in Montreal, follows an announcement by the World
Meteorological Organization earlier this week that a large area
of ozone depletion now stretches in northern areas from the Gulf
of St. Lawrence to the Yukon. 

The Greenfreeze technology, which releases no ozone depleting
substances or greenhouse gases, was first developed in Germany
during the early 1990's.  Greenpeace played a vital role in
convincing the European refrigerator industry to mass produce
the technology by promoting it to its supporters and the general
public.

Unfortunately, Greenfreeze has not made the leap to the North
American market, largely due to lobby efforts by the chemical
industry. "Unfortunately the chemical industry continues to
promote technologies that damage the ozone layer and fuel
climate change. This makes no sense because Greenfreeze is a
proven  cost-effective, environmentally sustainable
alternative," said Francois Tanguay, director of Greenpeace
Quebec.

The United Nations Environment Program (UNEP) has calculated
that ozone depletion  of just 10% will cause 300,000 cases of
skin cancer per year.  The recent observations made over Canada
indicate that at certain altitudes, ozone levels are 50 per cent
lower than previously observed.  Most at risk are children;
springtime remains a particularly high-risk season.
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Editor's Note:

Greenfreeze will visit the following communities:: St-Jerome,
Sherbrooke, Trois-Riviere, Quebec City, Chicoutimi, Baie Comeau,
Sept-Iles and Rimouski.

For further information call :  Johanne Fillion or Francois
Tanguay:  514-933-0021; 
 514-949-0384 (cell)  or Mary MacNutt  416-597-8408 Ex. 3030