Although ozone is a pollutant in the ambient air, in the stratosphere it is valuable because it absorbs harmful

Stratospheric ozone is valuable because it absorbs harmful ultraviolet radiation from the sun.

This shields living things from DNA damage, skin cancer and eye harm.

Infrared radiation is absorbed mainly by greenhouse gases, not by the ozone shield.

X-rays are largely absorbed higher in the atmosphere, not by the ozone layer.

Gamma rays are blocked in the upper atmosphere rather than by stratospheric ozone.

At ground level the same ozone acts as a harmful pollutant.