Section outline

  • Ozone is both beneficial and harmful to us. Near the ground, ozone forming as a result of chemical reactions involving traffic pollution and sunlight may cause a number of respiratory problems. However, high up in the atmosphere in a region known as the stratosphere, ozone filters out incoming radiation from the Sun in the cell-damaging ultraviolet (UV) part of the spectrum. Without this ozone layer, life on earth would not have evolved in the way it has. Nevertheless, during the 1970s it was realised that man-made emissions of CFCs and other chemicals used in refrigeration, aerosols and cleansing agents may cause a significant destruction of ozone in the stratosphere, thereby letting through more of the harmful ultraviolet radiation.