Unfortunately, MacDonald was already well-known for his belief that the scientific community had not adequately investigated UFO sightings; stigmatized as a "UFO nut," he was humiliated during his appearance before Congress, and his prescient testimony was disregarded.

In 1974, when Rowland and Molina first published their findings in the leading scientific journal Nature, they too failed to attract public attention. Their idea was probably too complex--and too disagreeable. By then, CFCs were an accepted part of daily life. It was no exaggeration to say that as the favored coolant for industrial, household and automobile air conditioning systems, the Miracle Compound had helped bring the Sunbelt into existence, making vast areas of Southern California and the southwest inhabitable and economically viable for the first time. And as an efficient propellent in aerosol sprays, CFCs were in virtually every medicine chest, kitchen and suburban garage.

CFC manufacturers rejected the Rowland and Molina theory, saying that there existed no actual proof that CFCs depleted ozone. In response, Rowland pointed out that industry had put tons of CFCs into the atmosphere even though its position was "just hypothetical, too. They have a hypothesis that it is safe to release chlorofluorocarbons," he said, "but no data to back up their position."

But Rowland and Molina soon had a determined ally: the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC), a public interest law firm that combines scientific scrutiny of environmental issues with tenacious advocacy. In 1974, NRDC launched a series of petitions to force government agencies charged with protecting consumer health to ban CFCs in aerosols.

Although the CFCs used in refrigerators and air conditioners were every bit as damaging to stratospheric ozone, aerosols were targeted because they accounted for over half of overall U.S. consumption of CFCs; such a ban would have a dramatic and immediate effect. Furthermore, unlike cooling equipment, which contains CFCs in pressurized coils and releases them into the environment only when it leaks or is junked, aerosols dispensed CFCs directly into the atmosphere each and every time they were used.

The NRDC campaign was bolstered by an unexpected public relations coup on February 1, 1975. Forty-three million TV viewers watching the hit show "All in the Family" saw the characters Mike and Gloria argue about having children. Mike announced he did not want to bring children into a rapidly deteriorating world. But things were getting better, Gloria pleaded. "Oh yeah?" Mike replied, picking up a can of her hair spray. "What about spray cans? Right here, this is a killer! I read that there are gases inside these cans, Gloria, that shoot up in the air and destroy the ozone."

A CONSENSUS favoring some kind of ban on CFCs in aerosols began to grow among scientists and government regulators. On June 18, 1975, Johnson Wax became the first major U.S. company to announce it would halt its use of CFCs in aerosols. Other companies--and several states--followed suit. And finally, a federal interagency report that year affirmed the validity of the Rowland-Molina theory. A 1976 update recommended a CFC aerosol ban that went into effect in the spring of 1979.