Did the CFCs venting and release cause any public health problems or negative environmental consequences?
While EPA is not aware of any direct human health effects from this incident (CFCs were not vented in any hotel room, rather in the hotel back storage lot), the CFCs vented by Airport Inn do have documented harmful effects on the environment, which in turn will have significant effects on human health. CFCs deplete the ozone (like oxygen we breath, but with an extra atom of Oxygen attached to make a group of 3 oxygen atoms in the molecule rather than the “normal” 2 atoms in the “O-2” we breath) in the upper atmosphere (stratosphere) by chemical action. Such ozone depletion is harmful because ozone blocks ultraviolet radiation coming from space. Congress in passing this portion of the Clean Air Act recognized the importance of the ozone layer of the earth’s atmosphere in blocking excess levels of this harmful UV radiation and therefore preventing such maladies as cataracts and skin cancer. 6. What type of CFC’s were released? EPA has identified two categories of ozone-depleting compound
