Again with the old “ozone depletion” crap. Stratospheric ozone is seasonal, highly volatile and dynamic – it is also constantly created as well as destroyed by solar radiation.
Australians, with one of the highest prevalence of health problems in the world caused by exposure to UV radiation, are very aware of the dangers of elevated UV radiation. The prevalence of skin cancer in Australian is nearly four times the rates of citizens in Canada, the US and the UK.
However, the role of elevated UVB radiation on marine biota and its possible role as a driver of widespread declines of marine biota has not been assessed in a systematic manner. The misconception that the Montreal Protocol succeeded in reverting UVB levels to its pre-disturbance values. Following the compelling demonstration of the role of CFC gases in the erosion of the stratospheric ozone layer, and hence, elevated UVB radiation, the Montreal Protocol ruled the banning of production and emission of CFCs. The Montreal Protocol has been invoked recurrently as a success-story in environmental regulation. Indeed, CFCs emissions and production declined sharply. However, UVB levels have not recovered as yet, and are not expected to recover before 2050. Hence, incident UVB levels have remained elevated for over four decades, a fact that stats on prevalence of UVB-induced health problems in humans provide evidence of.
