U.N.: China shuts five chemical plants

UNITED NATIONS, July 2 (UPI) -- China has closed five of its six remaining chlorofluorocarbon chemical plants, according to the United Nations.

The U.N. Environment Program said the decision by the world's largest producer of chlorofluorocarbons to close down the plants highlights the success of the Montreal Protocol, an international treaty designed to protect the ozone layer.

"On the 20th anniversary of the Montreal Protocol, with more than 95 percent of the ozone depleting substances being phased out, the protocol is among the great success stories of recent years," said Achim Steiner, executive director of UNEP, said in a statement released in China's Chiangshou Sunday.

CFCs are used in refrigerators and air conditioners, but weaken the ozone layer, letting ultraviolet radiation into the atmosphere. The results can cause skin cancer, eye cataracts and suppression of the human immune system, the statement said.

China, also the world's largest producer of halon, a chemical found in fire extinguishers, has stopped producing it in any way it could be emitted into the atmosphere.

With support from U.N. agencies, China has already closed 31 chlorofluorocarbon and halon producing factories and has developed ozone-friendly alternatives and new technologies.

The shutdown of the facilities in Chiangshou, near Shanghai, will bring China's production of chlorofluorocarbons to just about 606 tons, down from 60,627 tons at its peak in 1998.

Without the Montreal Protocol, which entered into force in 1987, levels of ozone depleting substances would have risen ten-fold by 2050, UNEP said.

China's shutdown of these plants puts it two and a half years ahead of the 2010 deadline.