LONDON -- Prince Charles, having already banned Princess Diana's hair spray from their home, urged more ambitious action worldwide Monday to rid the Earth of ozone-destroying chemicals so 'we can stop the sky turning into a microwave oven.'
The recent European Community decision to eliminate chlorofluorocarbons by the end of the century 'is encouraging, but I fear even that will be 10 years too late,' Charles said at a dinner at the British Museum for delegates to the 124-nation conference titled 'Saving the Ozone Layer.'
CFCs are largely used in refrigerators, air conditioners, aerosols, foams and solvents. They are blamed for depletion of the ozone layer, thus allowing more ultraviolent radiation to reach the Earth's surface. That can cause increased incidence of skin cancer, eye damage and decreased ability to fight off disease.
The Montreal Protocol, which calls for a 50 percent cut in CFCs by 1998, was reached before conclusive proof that the chemicals were destroying ozone layer, before the scope of the damage was apparent and without knowledge that CFCs contribute to global warming, Charles said.
'When these facts are added to the equation there is surely an overwhelming scientific case to change the treaty from a reduction to complete elimination,' the prince said.
Charles spoke of other environmental concerns as well.
'The seas are fast becoming sewers. We make poisons so powerful we don't know where to put them. The rain forests are being turned into deserts,' he said. 'If we can stop the sky turning into a mircowave oven, we will still face the prospect of living in a garbage dump.'
Buckingham Palace said the prince wrote the speech, among his most important, in longhand while skiing at the Swiss resort Klosters.
One of the most memorable manifestations of Charles's longtime concern for the environment was his ban on aerosols in his Kensington Palace home, including, he said, his wife Diana's hair spray.
In a lighter moment, Charles recalled headlines in London's tabloids saying he spent 'a substantial proportion' of time talking to his plants, and said 'as a result I can assure you there is absolutely nothing I don't know about the greenhouse effect,' for which scientists say CFCs are 20 percent to blame.
The burden of banning CFCs falls most heavily on industrialized countries, he said.
'Given that the developed world is responsible for the vast proportion of the damage so far done to the ozone layer, it is surely incumbent upon our governments to accelerate the phase-out of CFCs by all reasonable means available to them,' Charles said.
Taking a swipe at Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, Charles said it is inadequate for governments 'to rely on voluntary action alone' by industry to phase out CFCs.
A recent survey of the microelectronics industry in the United Kingdom showed that about 65 percent of the companies questioned had no intention of taking any action to eliminate CFCs, he said.
'There should be an obligation to intervene as and when appropriate to accelerate or enforce environmental measures,' Charles said. 'Have we not also reached the stage where we can resolutely challenge the power of any industrial lobby which seeks to ignore or disprove such matters of global concern?'
