Environment and health - thirty years of successful implementation of the Montreal protocol

Abstract

The Protocol on Ozone Depleting Substances (ODS) was signed in 1987 in Montreal. The main goal of the protocol is the international consensus and action regarding the drastic decrease of production and use of these substances, which results in increased UV radiation and consequently has a negative impact on human health and ecosystem. Besides the review of the ?legal and technical? implementation of the protocol until now and the withdrawal of ODS from use, this paper specially stresses the analysis of available research results regarding the positive impact on health, in correlation with the implementation of the Montreal Protocol (MP). Due to the results of the thirty-year-long use until now, the MP is referred to as one of the most successful international agreements, not only in the field of environmental protection, but also in the field of human health protection in relation to it, within a certain context. Besides the reduced negative impact of ultraviolet radiation (UV) to the ecosystem and people, we are also facing a reduced occurring trend of skin cancer, cataracts, and immune system diseases worldwide. Without the MP and its implementation, millions of people would have died because of UV radiation and the previously mentioned diseases. The treatment costs and the pressure to the health system in all the countries worldwide would have enormously increased because of that.