Trump Has Strong, Wrong Opinions on CFCs in Hairspray

Donald-Trump-Hair

At a rally in West Virginia early in May Donald Trump had some strong opinions about hair care for the audience of largely working class miners:

“Give me a little spray. … You know you’re not allowed to use hairspray anymore because it affects the ozone, you know that, right? I said, you mean to tell me, cause you know hairspray’s not like it used to be, it used to be real good. … Today you put the hairspray on, it’s good for 12 minutes, right,” Trump said, pining for the good ol’ days of Aquanet. “So if I take hairspray and I spray it in my apartment, which is all sealed, you’re telling me that affects the ozone layer? “Yes.” I say no way folks. No way. No way. That’s like a lot of the rules and regulations you people have in the mines, right, it’s the same kind of stuff.”

Firstly, the lack of CFCs should not affect the quality of the hairspray. CFCs, or hydrochlorofluorocarbons and hydrofluorocarbons, were used only in the propellants in aerosol cans until they began to be phased out in 1987. It was shown that these chemicals were largely responsible for the depletion of the ozone.

Secondly, Donald Trump doesn’t understand how air works. His apartment is not sealed, and air moves throughout the building through the vents and duct system, eventually making it outside. David Fahey, physicist at NOAA commented “these gases cannot and are not confined to the kitchen or bedroom; they mix, diffuse, and are moved out of the local release area to be transported throughout the lower atmosphere (over months) before they are transported upward to the stratosphere,” where the ozone layer is located.

Sources:
http://www.factcheck.org/2016/05/trump-on-hairspray-and-ozone/
http://nymag.com/thecut/2016/05/trump-hairspray-rant.html

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