Abstract
IN an address entitled “Can the World be Saved ?” presented in 1967 at the AAAS Meetings in New York1, Lamont C. Cole expressed concern that the release into the ocean of pesticides and/or other toxic pollutants may, by poisoning the marine diatoms, “bring disaster upon, ourselves” in cutting off 70 per cent or more of the world's supply of photosynthetically produced oxygen. This particular doomsday prophecy has gained momentum very significantly in the ensuing 2 years and is now a recurrent theme in almost any discussion of the environment and its abuses by man. This is true not only of dialogue in the popular press and on television but in scientific circles as well. For example, at a recent symposium on primary productivity held at the State University of New York at Albany (March 12–13, 1970) the subject was invoked repeatedly in discussions following papers dealing with natural photosynthetic processes. Clearly, this has become a matter of serious concern. Is it justified ?
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References
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RYTHER, J. Biological Sciences: Is the World's Oxygen Supply Threatened ?. Nature 227, 374–375 (1970). https://doi.org/10.1038/227374a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/227374a0
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