LETTERS: FREON IS NOT TO BLAME

To the editor:

I must take exception to recent letters in your paper regarding the EPA, ozone layer and Freon.

There is no independent scientific evidence that Freon affects or ever had affected the breach in the ozonosphere, the ultraviolet screening, upper layer of Earth's atmosphere. Current government data result from tightly controlled simulated conditions which are questionable at best. That so-called ozone hole was first detected in the late 1800s, long before the automobile and decades prior to Freon's use in auto air conditioning.

If auto Freon is so destructive, why is the less-pure, larger-molecule variety not banned from the home refrigerator, deep freezer, commercial chiller and the commercial and home air conditioner?

Answer: DuPont's patent on purified fluorocarbons was expiring, and special-interest lobbies convinced the EPA and Congress that Freon for auto air conditioning and aerosol use should be banned.

Guess who manufactures Freon's replacement with a new 15-year patent?

I maintain that freon doesn't damage the high-frequency wavelengths of the ozonosphere, but its replacement does damage consumers' pocketbooks.

RUSS MAYFIELD

Jackson