EAD highlights environmentally-friendly products for the consumer

This is the sad state of the ozone layer today and this is the awareness message being issued from the Environment Agency - Abu Dhabi (EAD) to mark International Day for the Preservation of the Ozone Layer on September 16, 2006.

Over the years, EAD has marked this special day, which marks the date in 1987 of the signing of the Montreal Protocol, a treaty to phase out the CFC and ozone-depleting substances. This year, it is adopting a unique approach to promoting awareness and will distribute an Ozone Day kit to every Government and Private school in the Emirate. The kit will contain an awareness poster and brochure as well as a CD- Rom carrying the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP)-produced animated cartoon Ozzie Ozone. EAD is also teaming up with the Emirates Heritage Club, Environment Friends Society, Abu Dhabi Municipality, Federal Environment Agency, and the Emirates News Agency (WAM), to set up stands at various supermarkets in the Emirate to highlight environmentally-friendly products and brands to consumers.

"By making it easier for consumers in the UAE to recognize environmentally-friendly and sustainable products during their regular shopping trips to the supermarkets, we want to encourage a shift in consumer awareness and eventually behavior in the long-term,"

said Majid Al Mansouri, Secretary General of EAD.

EAD is also coordinating with UNEP's Ozone Action Secretariat to promote an educational pack about the Ozone produced by UNEP's Division of Technology, Industry and Economics. This pack will act as a guide for Primary school teachers in the Private and Government schools.

The Agency is urging the community to protect the ozone layer because it acts as a protective filter surrounding our Earth from Ultra Violet rays (UV Rays), protecting us from skin cancer, early aging, eye diseases and the weakening of our immune system. Although this radiation has always been present throughout the evolution of Earth and life, research shows that we are now exposed to higher levels of it because of the thinning of the ozone layer.

The Ozone layer is being depleted by CFCs, which is found in freezers, refrigerators, sprays and air fresheners. It has been banned since the 1970s in most countries. Other Ozone-depleting substances include Halons, Methyl Bromide, which is used in fire extinguishers.

During the last three years, the ozone hole has covered an area of nearly 3 times the area of Australia! The reason the ozone hole is above the Antarctica is because human emissions of CFCs occur mainly in the Northern Hemisphere.

The UAE was one of the first countries to be a signatory to the Montreal Protocol. It also issued Ministerial Council Decree No. 16 for 2003 which established fines on the licenses issued by the Federal Environment Agency to import ozone-depleting substances.