Photo: Ozone program faces cuts

This image shows how large the Arctic ozone hole, shown here in blue, was in 2006 — and this past spring its even larger size broke records. Now, Environment Canada is planning to axe a monitoring network that is key to assessing Earth’s protective ozone layer. The ozone layer, which wraps around the planet like a blanket, about 20 kilometres above the surface, filters out harmful ultraviolet rays, believed to cause skin cancer and cataracts, disrupt the reproduction of some animals and destroy plant life. Research also has determined that whales can suffer from sunburn due to too much exposure to ultraviolet rays. Warming in the Arctic may cause more ozone loss, scientists suggest. (FILE IMAGE)