Ozone Depletion - Consequences of Ozone Layer Depletion

Consequences of Ozone Layer Depletion

Since the ozone layer absorbs UVB ultraviolet light from the sun, ozone layer depletion is expected to increase surface UVB levels, which could lead to damage, including increase in skin cancer. This was the reason for the Montreal Protocol. Although decreases in stratospheric ozone are well-tied to CFCs and there are good theoretical reasons to believe that decreases in ozone will lead to increases in surface UVB, there is no direct observational evidence linking ozone depletion to higher incidence of skin cancer and eye damage in human beings. This is partly because UVA, which has also been implicated in some forms of skin cancer, is not absorbed by ozone, and it is nearly impossible to control statistics for lifestyle changes in the populace.

Read more about this topic:  Ozone Depletion

Famous quotes containing the words consequences of, consequences and/or layer:

    The consequences of our actions grab us by the scruff of our necks, quite indifferent to our claim that we have “gotten better” in the meantime.
    Friedrich Nietzsche (1844–1900)

    There is not much that even the most socially responsible scientists can do as individuals, or even as a group, about the social consequences of their activities.
    Eric J. Hobsbawm (b. 1917)

    This world is run by people who know how to do things. They know how things work. They are equipped. Up there, there’s a layer of people who run everything. But we—we’re just peasants. We don’t understand what’s going on, and we can’t do anything.
    Doris Lessing (b. 1919)