Votes and proceedings of the General Assembly of the state of New-Jersey . n—andit is simply that—focuses on the possi-bility that deeper ultraviolet penetra-tion could lower the stratosphere slight-ly, and somehow change the globalcirculation of the winds. Identifying the culprit When McDonald brought the matterup, the links between ultraviolet and can-cer were less widely known. And perhapsbecause of his reputation for unconven-tional beliefs, he was unable to convincemany colleagues or policymakers of theseriousness of the threat. It was onlyafter several other researchers, particu-larly Cr
Votes and proceedings of the General Assembly of the state of New-Jersey . n—andit is simply that—focuses on the possi-bility that deeper ultraviolet penetra-tion could lower the stratosphere slight-ly, and somehow change the globalcirculation of the winds. Identifying the culprit When McDonald brought the matterup, the links between ultraviolet and can-cer were less widely known. And perhapsbecause of his reputation for unconven-tional beliefs, he was unable to convincemany colleagues or policymakers of theseriousness of the threat. It was onlyafter several other researchers, particu-larly Crutzen and Johnston, got inter-ested in the matter that the SST-ozoneissue acquired scientific pointed out that the real damagewould come not so much from watervapor as from the nitric oxides emittedby the engines. They calculated that theSSTs might affect the ozone layer asmuch as vegetable decay. The ozone-danger arguments, amongothers, figured in the successful effort topersuade Congress in 1971 not to sub-sidize the construction of an American. SST. But the scientific concern spurredthe Department of Transportation tostart a belated $20-million research pro-gram known as the Climatic ImpactAssessment Program (CIAP). TheCIAP report, issued last December, sub-stantiated the hypothesis that largefleets of SSTs would weaken the ozoneshield. But the study also concluded thatimproved engines and fuels would great-ly diminish the damage. A chemical detective in the sky Once CIAP focused scientific atten-tion on interference with the ozonelayer, it was only a question of timebefore other threats were thought the Fifties, a British chemist namedJames Lovelock—a man who prefers theunusual role of a free-lance scientist topermanent ties to any institution—in-vented a device called the electron- capture gas chromatograph. One of themost exquisitely sensitive analyticaltools of chemistry, Lovelocks instru-ment can detect atmospheric gases inamounts as mi
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