OZONE REVIVAL

Word has cached Science Nays 150, No,16, p 244, October 19, 1996, that contrary to hopeful predictions by the ozone hole industry, ozone levels over Antarctica in 1996 were higher than in 1995. This is happeningtoo soon. It is politically necessary for the ozone hole (there is, of course, no hole - only a region of reduced ozone concentration that forms in the very cold air over Antarctica in the fall of each year) to keep getting worse until the bans on CFCs have been in place long enough to be credited with the "recovery." If natural fluctuations drift the wrong way too soon, this wonderful charade of pretend global en- gineering will be exposed as sham science.

Meanwhile, tetrafluoromethane, a new candidate for demon of the year as a greenhousegas, tums out to be only half a demon. "Effect of Natural Tetrafluoromethane" by J. Ham&h, R. Borchers, P. Fabian H. W. Gaggeler, and U. Schotterer inNature 384, p32,7 November 1996 mports that about half of theCF4 in the atmosphere has accumulated naturally, probably from radiochemical processes.

Regardless of the facts, however, the ozone pogrom continues apace. A minus 90' C freezer in our laboratory here recently needed repair. The closest repair depot with government approved facilities for handling the "dangerous" special freon involved is in Portland - six hour's drive away. So, we were required to haul the freezer to Portland. Previously, any local retigeration repairman could have done the job.