OZONE LAYER DEPLETION SETS NEW RECORDS EACH YEAR

Ozone layer depletion is accelerating globally. The worst ozone layer depletion is expected to occur during the next five to ten years. We may be in for even nastier surprises than what our scientists predict. Certainly, a clear pattern towards greater crisis has become a permanent feature over the past decade.

The World Meteorological Organization (WMO) reported that in 1994 the ozone hole over Antarctica opened up two weeks earlier than in 1993, with a record low of over 70% ozone depletion. The previous record was set in 1993 with just over 60% ozone loss."

On March 3O, 1995, scientists from the Second European Stratospheric Arctic and Mid latitude experiment (SESAME) reported alarming thinning of the ozone layer over the Arctic, Siberia and Scandinavia. In some altitudes ozone levels were 50% below those previously observed. On average, a 20-30 percent reduction in Arctic ozone levels was reported. The British newspaper, The Guardian , headlined its front page story on the SESAME Report as the "First Ozone Hole Found Over Arctic".

Recently released data from the US National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) indicate that the 1996 Antarctic ozone hole peaked at a record 10 million square miles - an area greater than the total surface area of North America. According to Dr. Rumen Bojkov, special advisor to the World Meteorological Organization, ozone levels over the Antarctic are now at the lowest level possible; all of the ozone subject to depletion by existing chemicals has been destroyed.