Several attempts have been made to investigate the economic impacts of the problem of a depleted ozone layer. Such attempts meet with many problems. There are good reasons for concern for effects on humans, animals, plants and materials, but most of these cannot be estimated in quantitative terms. Calculating the economic impact of such effects is uncertain. Moreover, economic terms are applicable only to some of the effects, such as the cost of medical treatments, and the loss of production in fisheries and agriculture, and damage to materials
Ozone Depletion changes the environment for humans, animals, and plants. Ozone is a gas that occurs both in the Earth's upper atmosphere and at ground level. Ozone can be "good" or "bad" for people's health and for the environment, depending on its location in the atmosphere.
Ozone is simply a molecule consisting of 3 oxygen atoms, which reacts strongly with other molecules. Ozone is created in the stratosphere when high energy uv radiation causes on O2 molecule to split. The free oxygen atoms collide and react with other O2 molecules to form O3.
Production is highest where the solar UV is the greatest, but once created, the ozone is then circulated towards the poles by the atmosphere. The amount of ozone in the stratosphere can vary with location, season and even day to day climatic conditions. The process of ozone creation is what makes the O3 in the atmosphere very effective at shielding the Earth from harmful UV radiation, which can cause many biological problems, such as skin cancer. However, due to its high reactivity, the UV found in the troposphere at ground level can also be dangerous as a toxic pollutant which is harmful to plants and lung tissue, and is a major cause of smog.
Ozone is constantly being produced and destroyed in a natural cycle. However, the overall amount of ozone is essentially stable. This balance can be thought of as a stream's depth at a particular location. Although individual water molecules are moving past the observer, the total depeth remains constant. Similarly, while ozone production and destruction are balanced, ozone levels remain stable. This was the situation until the past several decades.
Large increases in stratospheric chlorine and bromine, however, have upset that balance. In effect, they have added a siphon downstream, removing ozone faster than natural ozone creation reactions can keep up. Therefore, ozone levels fall.
Since ozone filters out harmful UVB radiation, less ozone means higher UVB levels at the surface. The more depletion, the larger the increase is in incoming UVB. UVB has been linked to skin cancer, cataracts, damage to materials like plastics, and harm to certain crops and marine organisms. Although some UVB reaches the surface even without ozone depletion, its harmful effects will increase as a result of this problem.