Dagens BBC-World har en interessant artikkel om årets sørlige ozonhull og
dets virkninger i det sørlige Chile. Bl.a. advarer myndighetene i Chile nå
om, at man her kan bli forbrent i sola ved middagstider på bare fem min.!
"He encourages his pupils to read the latest environmental alert issued by
the authorities. The most recent alert warns that unprotected skin can burn
in the mid-day sun in just five minutes."
Karsten Johansen
http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/world/americas/newsid_986000/986306.stm
Monday, 23 October, 2000, 11:11 GMT 12:11 UK
Living under an invisible threat
Puerto Williams faces a deadly threat from above
By James Reynolds in Puerto Williams
Every year at around this time, an ozone hole opens up over the Antarctic -
but this year it has opened up to record levels.
For a few days it has also spread to the southern tip of South America. This
area includes the small town of Puerto Williams - the southernmost
settlement in the Americas.
At first sight, the town seems unaffected by the ozone alert in southern
Chile.
A small sign stuck outside the post office warning people to stay indoors at
midday and use suncream is the only obvious evidence of anything wrong.
For the moment, most of the 2,000 residents of the town are carrying on with
life as normal.
Few precautions
Very few people have taken any great precaution against the sun, and not a
single shop in Puerto Williams stocks sun cream.
The town's fishermen are among those who seem determined to continue with
little - if any - regard for the effects of the ozone hole.
For most, concern is focused on the size of the next catch, not the amount
of time it may take to get sunburned.
"I'm not quite sure what damage the ozone hole has created here," says
fisherman Eladio Enrique Leger, "But it doesn't really bother me - I haven't
felt any damage yet."
Raising awareness
But in some areas, life has been affected. At the town's school, ecologist
Ricardo Rozzi has been brought in to give special classes about the ozone
hole.
He encourages his pupils to read the latest environmental alert issued by
the authorities. The most recent alert warns that unprotected skin can burn
in the mid-day sun in just five minutes.
Because of this, Mr Rozzi's plans to take his class outside to the new
botanical park in Puerto Williams have had to be postponed.
The governor of Puerto Williams, Eduardo Barros, is trying to raise
awareness of the problems of life under the ozone hole.
He wants to buy sunglasses for the town's kindergarten children as
protection against the sun, and plans to have a batch of sun cream shipped
in to the town.
Long term fears
Beyond this, the governor is looking to the possibility of long-term damage
to the health of people in Puerto Williams as a result of the ozone hole -
such as a possible rise in skin cancer rates.
"In the future, if scientists can prove that the ozone hole has damaged the
health of people here, we'll begin legal action against those companies
responsible for the chemicals which have depleted the ozone layer," he says.
"We'll be like those people in America who've taken on the tobacco companies."
For the moment, doctors working in Puerto Williams say they have not
detected a rise in skin cancer among the town's residents.
But they say this does not mean that the people of Puerto Williams are out
of danger, and warn that it could be several decades before the potentially
harmful effects of life under the ozone hole become apparent.
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