Many old fridges contain chemicals called Chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) which damage the Earth's ozone layer.

BBC: Ghana bans second-hand fridges

Polychlorinated biphenyls, (PCBs), chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) and DDT are also organochlorine compounds which, although banned or discredited, are still evident in the environment.

CNN: Chemicals killing Florida birds, fish

Those gases originate from man-made products like chlorofluorocarbons, or CFCs, which were phased out under a global agreement two decades ago but continue to linger in the atmosphere.

CNN: Ozone hole grows in 2008

As part of an agreement among nearly 200 nations 23 years ago, the United States agreed to prohibit chlorofluorocarbons, or CFCs, which are implicated in depleting the ozone layer.

FORBES: Move up http://i.forbesimg.com t Move down

In 1928, Thomas Midgley, Albert Henne, and Robert McNary synthesized the first chlorofluorocarbons (trademarked as Freon in 1930), ushering in safe refrigerators and air conditioning (other coolants eventually replaced Freon).

FORBES: 12 Rules For Game-Changing Entrepreneurs

By the time the makers of cigarettes were fighting against legislation on secondary smoking and the makers of chlorofluorocarbons against regulations to protect the ozone layer, their efforts had coalesced into a general attack on the environmental movement and the regulatory bodies it had brought into being.

ECONOMIST: A question of dodgy science