News -> GOVERNMENT WAGES WAR ON ILLICIT FREON.(NEWS)

 

Since this summer, a new contraband has been running second only to marijuana in the Customs seizures made here on the Mexican border.

It is more profitable than cocaine by some estimates, believed to be bigger business these days than gun-running, and illegal to import for a futuristic reason: It harms the planet.

It is that old staple on car-repair shop shelves, Freon. And it is taking on a sinister new role as the contraband of tomorrow.

Virtually all production and importation of the ozone-destroying refrigerant has been banned in the United States since January, but the continued demand for it among American owners ...