Until recently, CFC-12 (often called by its DuPont trade name, "Freon") was the only refrigerant we needed in motor vehicle air conditioning (MVAC) systems. Then, in the mid-1980s, scientists proved that CFC-12 damages the ozone layer. Since this thin veil protects us and all living things from harmful solar ultraviolet radiation, less ozone means more skin cancer, cataracts and other ill effects. The world agreed to stop making CFC-12 and its ozone-depleting cousins. In the United States, CFC-12 was last made for general use on Dec. 31, 1995. Now, many industries, including the MVAC world, have to switch to new refrigerants.

I think of our efforts to protect the ozone layer as a drive down a football field. We were sitting on our own 5-yard line until 1992. The goal line (a smooth transition away from CFC-12) was a long way off, but we had time to get there. Also, we already had hints that a strong player (HFC-134a) would help us. But in 1992, the world's scientists delivered some bad news: the ozone layer was disappearing faster than we'd thought. In response, the world agreed to ditch CFC-12 by 1996 instead of 2000.

In 1994, we seemed to be crossing midfield. HFC-134a worked well in new cars, and nearly every car built since 1994 has used it. But what about the 140 million cars still using CFC-12? At the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), we got calls and letters complaining that it would cost $1,000 (or more!) to convert a car to HFC-134a. Since then, we've learned that HFC-134a actually works well in many older cars that still use CFC-12. But at the time, no one had a good answer.

Onto the field ran the alternative refrigerant blends, but did they move us toward the end zone or further away? Each manufacturer believes it has a product that works where HFC-134a doesn't. The car makers and others, who invested millions of dollars in testing HFC-134a, want to maintain simplicity and only approve retrofitting to HFC-134a. Both attitudes are understandable.

When reviewing a refrigerant, EPA has made a programmatic decision only to consider its environmental and health effects. Setting up a bureaucracy to independently test and verify the performance of alternatives in all the major industrial sectors that used CFCs would have required major increases in EPA's budget, and would not have recognized the thriving and useful contributions of industry standards-setting bodies like SAE. Because of this decision, we can tell you whether an alternative is safer from an environmental and human health perspective, as our authorizing law tells us to. But we can't say whether it works.

What we can do, though, is make sure every new refrigerant is used properly. To prevent mixing of refrigerants, we require unique fittings and labels for each refrigerant, including HFC-134a. Keeping the alternatives apart will protect shops and car owners, and maximize the amount of time we have before the virgin and recycled CFC-12 supply runs out. Since no refrigerant can be vented, we're also working hard to figure out puzzles like whether blends can be recycled. Finally, last year we started working with the Federal Trade Commission to protect shops and consumers from misleading advertising.

So now it's first and goal on the 5-yard line, and the clock is running down. Meanwhile, there's a vigorous debate over whether anything other than CFC-12 and HFC-134a should be used. EPA will involve itself as usefully as it can in this debate, but ultimately, the market will decide this question - in the forum of trade organizations and journals, through shop owners and technicians, and in the end, through consumers. Maybe HFC-134a alone will survive; maybe some other products will find a niche. What's critical is that information flows freely and honestly, and that all alternatives are used appropriately. We'll keep providing information through our hotline and World Wide Web site, and we'll keep asking for your advice on tricky issues like recycling blends. Together, we'll get to the end zone.

Jeffrey Levy has reviewed alternative refrigerants for EPA since 1993. Additional information is available at EPA's ozone depletion Web site (http://www.epa.gov/ozone/) and hotline, (800) 296-1996.

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