Methyl chloroform is one of several chemicals that were banned by
the 1987 Montreal Protocol on Ozone Depleting Substances. Until
the late 1980s it was widely used as an industrial solvent and
favored for such uses as dry-cleaning and manufacturing inks and
coatings. It has a relatively long life in the troposphere (5-6 years),
although not nearly as long as most CFCs. Emissions have been
reduced dramatically in response to the Montreal Protocol, but
measurements reported by Krol et al. (2003) indicate continuing
emissions at some unknown locations in Europe. These lingering
emissions are not large enough to be significant for ozone
depletion, but they do complicate estimates of global tropospheric
hydroxyl radical (OH, a very reactive atmospheric constituent)
References
Krol, M.C., J. Lelieveld, D.E. Oram, G. A.Surrock, S. A. Penkett,
C. A. M. Brenninkmeijer, V. Gros, J. Williams, and H. A.
Scheeren, 2003: Continuing emissions of methyl chloroform form
Europe. Nature, 421, 131-135..