More Evidence Identifies China as The Source of Mysterious Ozone-Destroying Emissions
For years, a mystery puzzled environmental scientists. The world had banned the use of many ozone-depleting compounds in 2010. So why were global emission levels [DOI: 10.1038/s41586-018-0106-2] [DX] still so high?
The picture started to clear up in June. That's when The New York Times published an investigation into the issue. China, the paper claimed, was to blame for these mystery emissions. Now it turns out the paper was probably right to point a finger.
In a paper [open, DOI: 10.1029/2018GL079500] [DX] published recently in the journal Geophysical Research Letters, an international team of researchers confirms that eastern China is the source of at least half of the 40,000 tonnes of carbon tetrachloride emissions currently entering the atmosphere each year. They figured this out using a combination of ground-based and airborne atmospheric concentration data from near the Korean peninsula.
Previously: Someone, Somewhere, is Making a Banned Chemical that Destroys the Ozone Layer
Illegal Chinese Refrigerator Factories Are Selling Banned CFCs
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday October 29 2018, @09:42PM (2 children)
Do we have any epidemiologists in the audience?
Carbon tet is a known carcinogen and, I believe a pretty powerful one. It's also a great industrial solvent and cleaner so the temptation to use it is great. https://www.atsdr.cdc.gov/substances/toxsubstance.asp?toxid=35 [cdc.gov]
Would be interesting if the Chinese health authorities have released any data on cancer clusters in their country.
(Score: 1, Redundant) by c0lo on Monday October 29 2018, @10:29PM (1 child)
Halogenated Volatile Organic Compounds from the Use of Chlorine-Bleach-Containing Household Products [acs.org]
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoFiw2jMy-0 https://soylentnews.org/~MichaelDavidCrawford
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday October 30 2018, @01:08AM
Yes, very interesting, thanks. I've always been leery of bleach-containing cleaners, do my best to avoid them but the SO is a big fan of sparkling white sinks and toilets. Going forward I'm going to only open such containers outdoors or in well ventilated spaces... and suggest that she do the same.