UK DOCTORS JOIN PROTEST AGAINST ICI

More than 300 doctors in the UK have said they will support the protest organized by the environmental group Greenpeace against Imperial Chemical Industries' continuing production of ozone-depleting chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs). ICI is reportedly responsible for 50%-60% of the UK's total CFC output.

Greenpeace has sent letters to over 4,000 general practitioners listing the drugs produced by ICI, as well as alternatives produced by other companies, although the organization has stressed that GPs should not alter treatment in patients already maintained on ICI products.

ICI has responded to the protest by pointing out that it is well ahead of the rest of Europe in its plans to phase out CFC-based products. This timescale involves an 85% reduction by 1993 and complete cessation by 1995, according to the company, and compares favorably with a European Community directive which sets the date for cessation as 1997.