Woman sunbathing
IN PHOTO: A tourist sunbathes at Kuta beach of the Indonesia's resort island of Bali June 5, 2008. Reuters/Murdani Usman

New Zealand and Australia are two of the countries in the world that have the highest death rates from skin cancer, according to the World Cancer Research Fund. However, a new study shows that the death rates would have increased more if it weren't for the phasing out of chlorofluorocarbons.

According to research, the hole found in the Antarctica ozone layer would now expand to 40 percent compared to when the Montreal Protocol was enforced in 1989. In the May 27 published study found in Nature Communications, researchers used 3D “chemical transport model” to show what would possibly happen if the Montreal Protocol was not introduced.

This hole could have opened up on the other side of the globe with Europe being the most affected. ''We would be living in an era of having regular Arctic ozone holes," said lead researcher, Martyn Chipperfield of Leeds University.

The 3D models did not only reveal that the Antarctic region's ozone hole could have increased in size, but also the appearance of another hole is likely at certain times, as reported in Radio New Zealand News.

While NZ and AU are among the countries that have high skin cancer mortality rates, the model also predicted that the risk of skin cancer would have increased when surface UV rates also rise between eight to 12 percent.

The Montreal Protocol is considered as one of the most important world treaties signed in history. The agreement, signed in 1987 and enforced in 1989, phased out chemicals, including cholorofluorocarbons, or CFCs, which can deplete the ozone layer.

Jonathan Shanklin, one of the three scientists in Cambridge who made the discovery of the hole in the ozone layer 30 years ago in May, said that the Montreal Protocol should serve as a “lesson for the future.” “We must hope that the coming climate change talks show the same foresight and result in a treaty that will benefit the whole planet,” he said.

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