Are Ozone holes even real? Can lack of ozone cause blindness and cancer?
Ozone depletion, cancer, blindness and secret masterminds
Scientists say the ozone layer is Earth’s sunscreen, but what does it consist of? The holes, are they real, are they really dangerous to us, the folk living on the surface. We are running out of ozone! Is this planet’s nature or human nurture? Should we stop using fridges and aerosol cans, or all of this is the secret plan of evil corporations to make more money? Finally, how much more significant is the ozone hole over the tropics? Let’s figure out what science and facts have to offer.
What is the Ozone layer?
Our planet’s atmosphere is built from multiple layers, well 5, to be exact: troposphere, stratosphere, mesosphere, thermosphere and exosphere. However, for the purposes of this, we are interested in the stratosphere layer, which is home to the captivating molecule batch called ozone.
Ozone, also known as the O3 molecule, is a thick layer of these particles. This layer is our planet’s sunscreen that nature has generously applied to protect us, humans, from Sun’s harmful ultraviolet radiation rays. The particles that make up the layer hang around 15–30km above the Earth and absorb 98% of the damaging UV-B light, saving us feeble mortals from perishing away with skin cancer.
Why is having a patchy Ozone layer not that good for humans?
Over the aeons, life on Earth adapted to prosper under certain conditions, such as moderate exposure to sunlight. However, the key here is moderation. That’s why your mum’s moaning about sunscreen protection was a valid point.
Our diligent scientists decided to look into why we, the frail bipedal weaklings, develop skin cancers. The laboratory studies revealed that too much UV-B light, the precious light that Sun provides, causes non-melanoma skin cancers. Also, whilst at it, they accused ultraviolet radiation of causing cataracts, which is the clumping of the eye proteins. This clumping reduces the amount of light reaching our retinas, causing poor vision and eventually blindness.
What causes ozone layer depletion?
As always, we are our worst enemy and the culprit of all our problems. The industrialisation of our lives and the need to strive for comfort led us to invent refrigeration and aerosol equipment. Finally, we could stop digging holes in the ground to keep the food fresh and even relish in the solace of car air conditioning whilst nodding off in traffic spraying that antiperspirant on ourselves.
To run all these brilliant creature comforts, we had to invent a heat transfer medium, which in the 1970s became commonly known by its trademark name “Freon”. To go extremely scientific on you, it’s the easily pronounceable name of chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) and hydrochlorofluorocarbons (HCFCs). These elements were invented by a guy called Thomas Midgley, the same guy who invented leaded fuel, which turned out to be quite toxic.
When these refrigeration gasses get into our atmosphere, they react with the ozone molecules, destroying them through a chemical process known as photodissociation. The chlorine, one of the CFCs’ components, hence “chloro” in the name, when exposed to UV light and the ozone molecule O3, completely obliterates it. It turns it into an abundant oxygen molecule destroying its protective property of stopping ultraviolet radiation. And by now, we know that too much UV-B radiation cause skin cancer and cataracts.
What have we done to stop ozone layer depletion?
Since we figured that if we didn’t do anything about the ozone layer depletion, we would have to live in bunkers underneath the ground blinded by cataracts, governments from all over the world signed a Montreal Protocol, which prevented the use of ozone-harming CFCs.
It was probably the most outstanding environmentally-related achievement when it came to mutual agreement as 192 countries signed a pledge to stop the ozone-harming chemicals and even aid the developing countries in helping to achieve this mission. This outstanding accomplishment was achieved by informing the public about the direct health concerns and providing a simple solution to avoid them.
The good news is that the most enormous ozone hole, over Antarctica, where chlorine and ozone reactions are amplified by lower temperatures, is shrinking. And since the reduction of harming gasses, by the year 2060, we should be back to pre-1970 levels of ozone in our atmosphere.
The ozone-saving Montreal Protocol is predicted to avoid 280 million cases of skin cancer, 1.6 million cancer deaths and more than 45 million cases of cataracts in the mortal hominids born between 1890 and 2100.
Conspiracies
We all love a good conspiracy story. It allows us to shift the blame from ourselves to evil governments and sinful corporations. But unfortunately, the worldwide scientific research and even 192 countries agreeing on the harm did not escape the tin-foil hat genius masterminds from clubbing some conspiracy stories together.
The flat-earth fellows claim that Du Pont’s patent for freon was running out. So the executives, together with lizard people, performed a crucifixion in a cave deep below the Earth and devised a plan to prevent competitors from using their patented chemicals, making it illegal worldwide forever.
The non-believers in the scientific method claim that freon is heavier than air and has no way of reaching 15–30km above the Earth, ignoring that winds mix the atmosphere and get them to the altitudes much faster than they can settle anywhere by weight.
What’s up with the recently released study about the ozone hole over the tropics?
Recently, a controversial study by Dr Qing-Bin Lu has concluded that there is a massive ozone layer hole, actually seven times larger than the one over the Antarctic. It is over the tropics, which, according to Dr Qing-Bin, has been there since the early 1980s.
In the AIP report, Lu claims: “The whole-year large tropical O3 hole could cause a great global concern as it can lead to increases in ground-level ultraviolet radiation and affect 50% of the Earth’s surface area, which is home to approximately 50% of the world’s population,”
Dr Qing-Bin also notes: “Exposure to enhanced UV-B levels could increase the incidence of skin cancer and cataracts in humans, weaken human immune systems, decrease agricultural productivity, and negatively affect sensitive aquatic organisms and ecosystems.”
Dr Lu faced instant criticism from Dr Paul Young, lead author of the 2022 Scientific Assessment of Ozone Depletion paper. He criticised Dr Lu for using a new definition of what constitutes an ozone hole; Dr Lu defined a hole as a 25% depletion of O3 molecules over the non-disturbed area, as this is what the Antarctic situation is.
Dr Marta Abalos Alvarez claimed that decreased ozone molecules concentration over the tropics area is a well-known phenomenon caused by Brewer-Dobson circulation, a pattern of air circulation that pushes ozone from the tropics out to the poles.
Let’s sum this up
High above the Earth, we have a protective layer of ozone particles, which prevent 98% of cancer and blindness, causing ultraviolet radiation from the Sun, from entering the atmosphere. Without it, we would all have to live underground in the bunkers to survive.
With the invention of refrigeration gas, commonly known as “Freon”, came ozone-damaging chemical particles called CFCs and HCFCs. These chemicals react with O3 particles when released into the atmosphere, causing them to simply turn into regular oxygen molecules, destroying the ozone layer.
In 1987, scientists managed to convince 192 countries to sign a Montreal Protocol, which prevents the usage of gasses harmful to the ozone layer. These advances in environmental protection policies managed to stop Ozone depletion over the antarctic, and if all goes well, we should be back to normal ozone levels by the year 2060.
Conspiracy theorists believe all these scientific facts are simply the secret mastermind between the government and Du Pont corporation to make more money by inventing new gasses and taxes.
A recently released scientific paper by Dr Qing-Bin Lu claims a massive ozone hole over the tropics exceeds the one over the antarctic more than 7 times. However, it is controversial and received criticism due to the revised definition of what constitutes an ozone hole, to begin with.