learning the history of space

Thinning Ozone Layer The Cause of Blindness



Chairman of the Indonesian Ophthalmologist Association (Perdami) Nila Moeloek said the number of cases of blindness due to cataract in Indonesia is still high with a prevalence of 52 percent. One contributing factor is ultraviolet rays resulting from the impact of ozone depletion. In a talk entitled "Ozone Layer Depletion Impact on Health" in Jakarta, Thursday (11/17/2011), Nila explained, damage the stratospheric ozone layer is caused by a variety of gases that contain chlorine or bromine, and capable of rising to the stratosphere.

Ozone Damaging Materials (BPO) is generally used as cooling agents, foam-making materials and so on. ODS produced in everyday life such as CFCs, Hydro chloroflourocarbon (HCFCs), methyl bromide, an aerosol can be found in the washing machine, air conditioner, hairspray, foam chairs, plants, tobacco, automobile air conditioning, cleaning materials and so on. Various BPO will cause depletion of the ozone layer so the impact on health and lowered immunity, inhibit plant growth and kill some types of plankton.He added that the government has so far not been prioritize and pay attention to the problem of the blind eye so that the number is still high."The government has focused on diseases such as AIDS and ignore the eye, but the eyes play an important role as it can also affect economic growth," said Nila Blindness due to cataract reached 200 thousand cases each year, not balanced by the number of ophthalmologists as many as 1,600 people.


 While the cancer most commonly from the sun is the eye tumor."The impact of ozone depletion one increases cancer patients in Indonesia, 11 million new cases of seven million patients died and a total of 25 million people with cancer," said Nila Moeloek. Nila said, cataract surgery entails substantial costs, but after the surgery will give a positive impact for people with cataracts because they can look back and becoming productive.


"Just imagine if a blind person can not work will depend on others, if an operation could see back then it will work and be productive, economic growth will go," he added.Therefore, Indonesia has a Vision 2020 with the mission of all have a right to see the aim to reduce the number of preventable blindness to 0.5 percent in 2020. It is believed to improve the quality of life and productivity of each individual.