Et Cetera

The earth's protective ozone layer is vanishing even faster than predicted. That warning from scientists has led 93 nations to agree to speed up phasing out use of chemicals that destroy the atmospheric shield. Updating the timetable known as the Montreal Protocol, delegates at a United Nations conference in Copenhagen moved up elimination of chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) and carbon tetrachloride to 1996, four years ahead of schedule. Halons and methyl chloroform will be banned earlier too, in 1994 and 1996, respectively. Researchers forecast more skin cancer as the ozone layer disappears.