In the 1980s, scientists startled the world with the discovery that the ozone layer was being depleted, which exposed life on Earth to dangerous radiation from the Sun. British experts were the first to sound the alarm in 1985. Working on the South Pole, they discovered that during the Antarctic spring the level of ozone in the air dropped. This effect came to be known as "the ozone hole" -- not a breach but a reduction in the ozone layer. Hovering in the stratosphere, at the altitude of 20-30 kilometers, this layer protects the Earth from the direct ultraviolet rays emitted by the Sun like an umbrella.

Any change in the protective ozone coating was bound to cause concern, all the more so since ozone holes, albeit not so numerous, were detected over the North Pole as well. These "holes" were the first environmental problem to attract global attention.

It was soon discovered that the dangerous process was generated by the anthropogenic factor, especially by harmful chemicals, such as chlorofluorocarbons and bromine-containing Freon gases. At that time, they were widely used in the production of refrigerators, air conditioners and various foaming agents used in the manufacture of plastics and expanded materials. These technologies had to be given up.

The Vienna Convention for the Protection of the Ozone Layer was signed on March 22, 1985. It was a framework document containing statements, warnings and appeals, but they could not resolve the problem once and for all.

A more binding and detailed document was signed on Sept. 16, 1987 -- The Montreal Protocol on Substances that Deplete the Ozone Layer. It preserved the immutable idea of the Vienna Convention -- the ozone layer has to be protected in order to avoid adverse consequences for humankind and the environment. The signatories to the protocol, including the Soviet Union, pledged themselves to stop the production, use, transportation and other operations with ozone-destroying substances.

Have these promises been fulfilled? "The problem has been completely removed -- ozone-destroying substances were replaced with safe agents all over the world. Not only the industrialized countries, but also the developing nations stopped any operations with substances that have an adverse effect on the ozone layer," said Viktor Danilov-Danilian, corresponding member of the Russian Academy of Sciences and a former environmental minister.

When asked whether these measures were effective, Danilov-Danilian told RIA Novosti: "The process has been reversed -- no doubt about that. Although the ozone layer is still depleted compared to what it was 30 years ago, it is beginning to recover. The ozone holes, which were observed in the 1990s, do not exist anymore."

But not all scientists share this opinion. Some of them see the fear of ozone holes as a way to promote new technologies. Still others maintain that they are no more than the Earth's "chronic disease," a natural phenomenon whereby the presence of some substance in the atmosphere goes up and down.

"To prove this, we have to compare the current ozone layer to what it was in the past eras. For the time being, we have not found any paleo-geological, paleo-onthological or paleo-botanical signs, which would allow us to judge what the ozone layer was like in the past, and whether its thickness was immune to change or not. All we do is guesswork," Danilov-Danilian said.

Grigory Kruchenitsky, head of the laboratory on ozone monitoring at the Central Aero-logical Observatory, expressed the most radical view in an interview with RIA Novosti: "Experts in this area have convincing natural explanations for the causes of ozone holes. Aberrations in the ozone layer over habitable territories are rare, short-term and natural fluctuations. The ozone layer's variable status is mostly linked with changes in the equatorial wind. In some areas, particularly those with polar stratospheric clouds, such an unstable compound as ozone is destroyed by the impact of the wind." The scientist believes that the ozone layer's long-term variability has not disappeared and in the future we may discover ozone holes once again.

Russia, which had ozone holes from the Crimea to the Chukotka Peninsula in the end of the past century, fulfilled its Montreal Protocol commitments with a big delay -- only in 2001. Commenting on this fact, Kruchenitsky emphasized: "Russia has fallen victim to the Montreal Protocol because the money allotted for the modification of chemical production was actually used to destroy the chemical division of our defense industry." He called the Montreal Protocol "a document without scientific substantiation, a grandiose scheme launched with financial considerations in mind."

(Tatyana Sinitsyna is a political commentator for RIA Novosti. This article is reprinted by permission of RIA Novosti. The opinions expressed in this article are the author's and do not necessarily represent those of RIA Novosti).

(United Press International's "Outside View" commentaries are written by outside contributors who specialize in a variety of important issues. The views expressed do not necessarily reflect those of United Press International. In the interests of creating an open forum, original submissions are invited.)