Let’s Be Clear about Today’s Aerosol Products and the Ozone

A recent study has been causing some more confusion about aerosol products. The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA)-led study published on October 2nd reported higher than normal levels of ozone depletion in the Arctic. Traditionally, most of the ozone depletion to date has been tracked in the colder Antarctic.

The primary driver of the ozone loss was colder than average temperatures. The very low temperatures allow chemical reactions with man-made chlorine-based chemicals to take place in the stratosphere that deplete the ozone. However, many of the articles that reference the study, incorrectly blame the use of aerosol products without clarifying that that today’s aerosol products no longer contain the chlorine-based chemicals, such as chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs), and have not in the U.S. since 1978!

While it is true that the chlorine-based chemicals have a long atmospheric lifetime, most of that used 30-50 years ago is no longer in the atmosphere... Today’s aerosol products in the U.S., European Union, and most countries in the developed world no longer have any CFCs, so consumers can continue to use them without concern of adverse effects on the ozone.

What Does “Ozone Warning Day” Mean?

It’s summer time and there are many “Ozone Warning Days” that you might see communicated on the local news, on the radio, or even on highways. Since there is a lot of confusion around the term ozone, we wanted to explain the differences between the two types of ozone.

When the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) says, ozone is "good up high, bad nearby" what the agency is referring to is Upper Ozone and Ground Level Ozone.

Upper Ozone - or stratospheric ozone, is a particularly active form of oxygen, which filters out much of the sun’s harmful ultraviolet radiation. This ozone layer surrounds the earth high up in the stratosphere. Some stories on stratospheric ozone wrongly advise against using aerosol products. Back in the 1970’s scientists discovered that chemicals called CFC’s (chlorofluorocarbons) were contributing to the depletion of the upper ozone, subsequently; CFCs were banned from consumer aerosol products in 1978, and US aerosol products have not contributed to ozone depletion for over 30 years.

Ground Level Ozone – or tropospheric ozone, is a component of “smog” and can be unhealthy for inhabitants when levels exceed EPA standards. Smog formation requires three ingredients:

1) Sunlight;

2) Nitrogen oxides, which come mostly from anthropogenic (man-made) sources such as automobile exhaust and power plants; and

3) Volatile organic compounds (VOCs), about half of which are naturally occurring and half man-made. "Volatile" means evaporating, and virtually anything that gives off an odor or quickly evaporates into the air is a source of VOCs.

According to the weather section on USATODAY.com this chemical process is describe as such:

When you burn gasoline in a car, a truck, or even a gasoline lawn mower, the stuff coming out of the exhaust pipe includes nitrogen oxides, which are gases. Each nitrogen dioxide molecule is made of one atom of nitrogen and two atoms of oxygen. On a sunny day, air containing nitrogen dioxide turns into a chemistry experiment that's not confined to a test tube.

One of the things that happens is the nitrogen-dioxide sheds one of its oxygen atoms, becoming nitrogen oxide. You can think of single oxygen atoms being lonely and hyperactive (if you like to think of things like atoms in this way.) The single oxygen atoms combine with some of the air's molecular oxygen (consisting of two oxygen atoms), becoming ozone.

Some smog alerts wrongly advise against using consumer products such as aerosol products. The EPA estimates that of the major man-made sources of VOCs, 58 percent are from industrial facilities, 37 percent are from vehicle emissions and 5 percent are from consumer products. The portion of these consumer products packaged in aerosol containers accounts for only a fraction of the 5 percent, and that tiny portion is largely composed of the least reactive—or least smog- forming—type of VOCs.

So, on a hot, sunny day, those ozone warnings are alerting you that air quality may be low and also accurately encouraging you to limit the activities that contribute to worsening the air quality.

Disney Makes Good

Sometimes in the world of entertainment mistakes happen. And it should not be a surprise that one might find good intentions behind some of those mistakes. Such was the case involving a children’s program from Disney’s Television Animation division.

CAPCO reached out to Disney regarding the negative slant and inaccuracies geared towards aerosol products in its popular cartoon series “Phineas and Ferb.” While the aerosol industry applauds the effort of using art and entertainment to educate our youth about the importance of protecting the environment, there is reason for alarm when that education is based on bad information.

Recently, CAPCO received a letter back from Disney acknowledging the aerosol industry’s concerns and recognizing the potential reputational harm that the misinformation in the cartoon could cause.

At the center of CAPCO’s concern was the plot of the episode, in which the villain attempted to destroy the ozone using aerosol sprays (today’s aerosol products don’t contain ozone-depleting chemicals, in fact, they have not contained CFCs for more than 30 years). To correct the misinformation and avoid other misunderstandings, Disney indicated that it would modify the episode for future airings by incorporating new dialogue and changing the overall direction to reflect a more positive tone regarding aerosol products.

We are pleased to have received such a positive response from Disney as their programming reaches millions of viewers each year. Bringing this to the attention of Disney helps to ensure that similar misinformation regarding modern day aerosol products is not presented in future episodes of “Phineas and Ferb” and, hopefully, other cartoons on the network. Clearly, Disney values the presentation of accurate information in its programming.

And for that we applaud them.

Aerosols vs. Aerosol Products

Often consumers and media alike confuse “aerosol products” with the broader term “aerosols.” According to the Merriam-Webster online dictionary the word “Aerosol” has 2 definitions:

1. : a suspension of fine solid or liquid particles in gas ; also plural : the fine particles of an aerosol
2. : a substance (as an insecticide or medicine) dispensed from a pressurized container as an aerosol; also : the container for this

Most people think that aerosol products (the second definition) is the only definition for aerosols, and they read scientific reports on climate change and incorrectly attribute the affects of stratospheric aerosols (first definition: fine particles in the air that come from carbon emissions and other natural causes) to aerosol products. This leads to confusion and unwarranted negative association of the aerosol product form to global warming.

A recent blog posting by the American Geophysical Union (AGU) gives many examples of how technical scientific terminology is often misinterpreted by the layman. The article states “there are dozens of words common to climate change research that have the same problem, she said: “error, values, risk, uncertainty – even “aerosol,” which means a small atmospheric particle to scientists, but means “spray can” to many other people.”

Clearly there is a great deal of confusion around aerosol products, and it is important for consumers to know that aerosol products:

1. Do not contain ozone depleting substances (and haven't contained CFCs over 30 years)
2. Do not contribute to global warming

For more information and facts about aerosol products, please visit: http://www.aerosolproducts.org/

CAPCO Responds to Misinformation in Disney Cartoon

A popular Disney kid's cartoon, Phineas and Ferb has an episode "Ain't no Kiddie Ride" with a lot of misinformation about consumer aerosol sprays and the ozone layer. CAPCO sent the following letter to the Corporate Communications Department at Disney.

To Whom it May Concern:

This e-mail is regarding misinformation on the Phineas and Ferb cartoon episode “Ain't no Kiddie Ride.” In this episode, Dr. Doofensmirtz is gathering up all the aerosol cans in order to spray his name into the sky and burn a hole in the ozone layer. We are writing because of the very negative tone towards aerosol products and blatant misinformation presented in the cartoon. The cartoon tends to have somewhat of a science learning and inventive undertone, so it is even more concerning that children are being presented with misinformation about aerosol products and their impact on the environment.

The cartoon states that the aerosol products contain “ozone depleting propellants” that will be used for the “aerosol propelled Ozone Depletenator” and the “ozone depleting gases therefore destroying the protective ozone layer.” The fact is, consumer aerosol products have not contained the ozone depleting propellants Chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) for over 30 years.

In the mid-1970s scientists discovered that CFCs may have been damaging the Earth's upper ozone layer. At that time, many aerosol products did use CFCs as propellants. However, product manufacturers voluntarily began removing CFCs from aerosols prior to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) banning them from use in aerosol products in 1978. You will find this information on the EPA website at: http://www.epa.gov/ozone/defns.html

Because of the extremely negative tone towards aerosol products which is based on faulty information, we ask that you stop playing this episode of Phineas and Ferb. Also, please consider consulting the EPA, or the www.aerosolproducts.org website for consultation for future Phineas and Ferb or other Disney sponsored programs that mention consumer aerosol products.