ABSTRACT
In December of 1974, The Food and Drug Administration requested the Council on Environmental Quality to designate a lead agency to coordinate preparation of an Environmental Impact Statement should regulatory action on chlorofluorocarbons become necessary. The work group was immediately aware of the argument for postponing regulation until more scientific evidence proved the ozone depletion theory. The Committee on Impacts of Stratospheric Change released a report assessing the environmental effects of chlorofluoromethane release. Selective regulation of chlorofluoromethanes uses and releases is almost certain to be necessary at some time and to some degree of completeness. The start of the development of an essentiality test began with the recognition that the availability of substitutes must play some role in determining essentiality. The resolution of the essentiality test was that the availability of alternatives; the economic significance of the product including effects in the marketplace; the environmental and health impacts of the product, and its substitutes.
