ALTANTA. Apr 3: Spectators and athletes at the Atlanta Games may be exposed to a 20 per rent increase in ul

traviolet light, which can cause skin cancer, according to a Nobel Prize-winning chemist, reports AP.

The Increase in the skin-damaging light will depend on numerous factors, including cloud cover and wind patterns, said Paul Crutzen. a Dutch chemist at the Max Planck Institute of Chemistry in Germany.

"I don't want to sound alarmist, but this is something that health officials should be monitoring and considering.' he said during a visit to Georgia Institute of Technology

The mcreag^Jn UV rays could result from a depletion of the protective ozone layer above the southern United States, he said. The layer this summer could be 5 per cent to 10 per cent thinner, allowing more of the damaging rays through, predicted Crutzen. who shared the 1995 Nobel Prize In chemistry for controversial work warning that gases once used In spray cans and other Items are eating away earth's ozone layer

But Georgia Tech atmospheric scientist Mike Rod gers said the ozone loss - and

any increase in UV light — could be minimal. The same factors Crutzen cited make it difficult to predict the ozone loss, which could be insignificant. Rodgers said.

Earlier last month, the

World Meteorological Organisation. a United Nations agency, reported that the ozone layer over parts of northern Europe was about 30 per cent below average levels.

Crutzen said that as the jet stream and other hlgh-altitude wind patterns undergo seasonal changes, that ozone-depleted area may shift to the mid-latitudes — including Atlanta and the southeastern United States.

Air enriched by ozone from the south could relieve some of the problem, but Crutzen said he still expects it to be five per cent to 10 per cent thinner when the Olympics start on July 19.

Researchers discovered in the 1970s that the chemical broke down Into chlorine in the atmosphere and that the chlorine was depleting the ozoneJayer. Without ozone, the earth has no protection from ultraviolet rays

Prolonged, direct exposure to ultraviolet light from the sun can cause serious skin damage. Including wrinkling and skin cancer

More than 7.300 Americans are expected to die of skin cancer this year, according to the American Cancer Society About 1 million people are ex peeled to be diagnosed with skin cancer. Including 38.300 with the more deadly malig nant melanoma