Harvard Report Sees Threat To Ozone in Fertilizers, Cars

Fertilizers and automobile exhaust may be detrimental to the ozone layer in the atmosphere, according to a report by three scientists at the Center for Earth and Planetary Affairs.

The report, authored by Michael B. McElroy, professor of Atmospheric Science, Steven C. Wofsy, Lecturer in Atmospheric Science, and Yuk Ling Yung, research fellow in Atmospheric Science, recently, also says "that the ozone level may drop by about 20 per cent over the next hundred years if world population and the demand for food continue to grow at present rates.

This finding adds fertilizer to the growing list of substances though to be harmful to the ozone layer, including SST exhaust, freon and related compounds and the agricultural gumigant methylbromide.

Fertilizer use is a "potentially volatile" political issue, according to a professor at MIT who is studying ozone depletion. The United States has traditionally supplied large amounts of fertilizer to underdeveloped countries in the form of aid.

According to the report, fertilizer is directly responsible for a 50 per cent increase in world agricultural productivity over the past fifteen years.

Worfy said last week that the report does not call for restrictions on the use of fertilizer. Instead, he said the report only recognizes the need for additional study of the problem.