Intermediate length rays are visible as light. UV rays contain enough energy to damage DNA in living skin and eye cells. DNA controls your cells' ability to heal and reproduce. According to NASA's ever-spinning satellites, the ozone layer's wavering protection lays four to eight percent thinner over the entire earth than it did ten years ago. A depletion of that magnitude could raise the chance of skin cancer in North America as much as 15 percent.
Some experts disagree.
NASA says Yes, Rush Limbaugh says No, but the point ends up being moot. Skin cancer can be thought of as an outdoor syndrome,the result of periods of intense overexposure to ultraviolet light even if the ozone was not depleted. Melanoma occurs in the melanocytes, the cells of the skin that determine skin color, and it occurs most often in people who are fair-skinned and freckled, people who sunburn easily. The average age at which melanoma strikes has been dropping dramatically. Ten years ago it was considered unusual to find skin cancer in anyone under 40.