NBC Nightly News open - 1977-05-11

Channel: malgent

Transcript

Language: English (original, YouTube automatic captions)

[0:00] WSMTV Nashville.

[0:07] >> This is NBC Nightly News with John

[0:09] Chancellor and David Brinkley. Tonight,

[0:12] Wednesday, May 11th, reported from the

[0:14] NBC News Center in New York.

[0:17] >> Good evening. David Brinkley will be

[0:19] back tomorrow. And the news today is

[0:21] that the government wants aerosol sprays

[0:23] using fluocarbons banned in 2 years.

[0:26] Three federal agencies issued a joint

[0:28] proposal on that. If after 60 days of

[0:31] hearings and discussion, the ban becomes

[0:33] law. It would eliminate about 700

[0:36] million spray containers containing

[0:38] everything from hairspray to household

[0:40] cleaners. Not all sprays use

[0:42] fluorocarbons, only one out of three.

[0:44] But the government argues that there is

[0:46] danger in these sprays, which warrants a

[0:48] ban. Richard Hunt has more details.

[0:52] Some spray cans are believed to endanger

[0:54] the ozone, a layer of gas around the

[0:56] Earth which turns back some of the

[0:58] ultraviolet rays from the sun. Too much

[1:01] ultraviolet light is a possible cause of

[1:03] skin cancer.

[1:05] The government says some, but not all,

[1:07] ordinary household spray cans may damage

[1:10] the ozone by releasing fluorocarbon gas,

[1:13] which chews up ozone molecules.

[1:16] Fluorocarbon gas is used to propel many

[1:19] kinds of hairspray, deodorants,

[1:21] cleaners, and other products.

[1:24] Industry spokesman Ralph Engel disagreed

[1:26] with the government's theory.

[1:29] There is a significant body of

[1:31] scientists

[1:32] who are not in accord with the

[1:36] hypothesis and have indicated that there

[1:38] is no that there is not a substantial

[1:41] amount of data indicating that it's

[1:43] proven. The aerosol industry is a very

[1:46] strong and very confident industry and I

[1:48] will tell you that consumers today can

[1:51] buy aerosols with confidence.

[1:54] >> Government estimated the companies that

[1:55] make the basic gas stand to lose as much

[1:57] as a billion dollars in the first four

[1:59] years. But the companies which package

[2:02] the products may not be seriously

[2:03] affected. Many are already switching to

[2:06] other kinds of gas or other kinds of

[2:08] cans.

[2:10] The government also says the same

[2:12] products in different packages or using

[2:14] different gases may be cheaper for the

[2:17] consumers by about 8 to 19 cents a can.

[2:20] So the government estimates that

[2:22] consumers could save $240 million a year

[2:25] by not using cans with fluorocarbon gas.

[2:29] Spray cans with fluorocarbon are not a

[2:31] direct danger to health. The threat is

[2:33] the ozone 20 m up. So spray cans with

[2:36] fluorocarbon will still be sold for 23

[2:38] months.

[2:39] After that, spray cans without

[2:41] fluorocarbon will continue to be sold.

[2:44] The government hasn't found anything

[2:45] wrong with those. Richard Hunt, NBC

[2:48] News, New York.

[2:50] The Environmental Protection Agency has

[2:53] a rule against testing dangerous

[2:55] materials on humans.