Illegal trade in ozone-depleting substances is thriving over three continents, says report

(ENN, November 11, 2003)

By Tom Maliti, Associated Press

NAIROBI, Kenya — The illegal international trade in chemicals that deplete the ozone layer is thriving, setting back global efforts to phase out the harmful chemicals, environmentalists said Monday.

Singapore and Dubai are major transit points in the illegal trade in chlorofluorocarbons, or CFCs, which are used in refrigeration and air conditioning, said Ezra Clark of the nonprofit Environmental Investigation Agency.

Under the Montreal Protocol, an international agreement reached in 1989, governments are supposed to gradually stop the use and production of substances that deplete the ozone layer of the stratosphere.

"The reason for the illegal trade is very simply economics," Clark said. "As the phase-out schedules for CFCs progress, the legitimate supplies decrease and the market prices go up, offering incentives to ozone-depleting substance smugglers keen to avoid duties and make a fast profit."

Rich countries stopped producing the banned substances in 1996, but companies there are still allowed to produce a limited quantity for medicinal use and for the basic needs of developing nations. Poor countries are required to stop using them by 2010.

The depletion of ozone allows more harmful ultraviolet rays to reach the Earth, which can cause skin cancer, eye damage, and other health problems.

In the mid-1990s the illegal trade was estimated to be between 20,000 to 30,000 tons a year, said Alexander von Bismarck, an investigator for the environmental group, which operates out of London and Washington.

In the report released Monday, the group said that at least four Singaporean companies re-export chlorofluorocarbons to the United States — a major market in the illegal trade in chlorofluorocarbons — either directly or through southern Africa using false documentation and packing. Other major markets include Russia, Vietnam, Nepal, Cambodia, and China.

Singapore has banned the importation of chlorofluorocarbons but allows them to transit through the city-state, von Bismarck said.

The report, based on a three-month investigation beginning in August and using Singapore as a case study, said that Singaporean chemical dealers make between 75 percent and 225 percent profit on each kilogram (2.20 pounds) of the CFCs, depending on where they are sold.

Source: Associated Press