CHINA -- Invisible, odorless gas is filling the atmosphere and its presence is causing huge holes on the Ozone layer. This is considered as the layer of atmosphere that protects the Earth from the harsh effects of solar radiation. They have identified it as chemical CFC-11 and it has been banned everywhere because it could cause massive destruction in the atmosphere. The group of scientists that conducted the survey revealed that specific provinces in the Eastern part of China are the ones responsible for these unwarranted emissions.
The results of their study was recently published in the journal Nature. They described how they were able to come to a conclusion using technological devices that sleuth out the major sources of this restricted chemical, without even stepping foot on China grounds.
"The results of the study shows a significant increase of these gases in two primary provinces of China," said Steve Montzka. He is from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), the scientists who have been following the trail left behind by CFC-11 emissions. "A huge part of the CFC-11 emissions in the world have been found in China."
More than half of the CFC-11 emissions in the world -- the chemical used for the production of foam insulators -- have certainly been produced in the identified regions in China namely Shandong and Hebei. The rest of the producers of such deadly gas remains to be unknown, for now at least. These perpetrators may also be running their operations somewhere in China or in Asia. Perhaps they could be operating in one of the most successful countries in the world.
"We still don't know where the rest of the CFC-11 in the atmosphere came from," explained Montzka, co-author of the study. "It could be coming from the other parts of the world."
The evidence against the producers of CFC-11 in China has been collected and it is considerably stronger. The results of this latest research essentially prove that it is indeed in China and therefore they can be sanctioned.
"The paper corroborates the evidence found on the ground," said Avipsa Mahapatra, leader of the Climate Campaign at the Environmental Investigation Agency (EIA). "The illegal process of its production have been identified and they are characterized as a fly by night practice circumnavigating their own rules as they wish.
"These gases are odorless and colorless. They are hard to identify, but they cause great damage to the Ozone layer," said Mahapatra. "Immediate action should be taken."
