The hole in the ozone layer over Antarctica may close within 50 years as the level of destructive ozone-depleting CFCs in the atmosphere is now declining, one of the world's leading atmospheric scientists said Tuesday. Antarctic Ozone Hole Could Close by 2050-Scientist Tue Sep 17, 4:07 AM ET By Michael Perry SYDNEY (Reuters) - The hole in the ozone layer over Antarctica may close within 50 years as the level of destructive ozone-depleting CFCs in the atmosphere is now declining, one of the world's leading atmospheric scientists said Tuesday. Paul Fraser with the Australian government's Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organization (CSIRO) said he had measured a decline in ozone-destroying gases since 2000. "The major culprit in the production of the ozone hole is CFCs and they have started to decline in the lower atmosphere," Fraser told Reuters in an interview. "We think the ozone hole will recover by about 2050," said Fraser, from CSIRO's atmospheric division and a lead author on a U.N. report on the ozone layer released Monday. The report said ozone-depleting gases in the upper atmosphere had been at or near their peak in 2000, but the world was making steady progress toward the recovery of the ozone layer. It said scientific data showed levels of ozone-depleting gases in the lower atmosphere were "declining, albeit slowly," but the ozone would be vulnerable for a decade. The ozone layer is essential for life on earth, shielding the earth from the harmful ultraviolet-B radiation from the sun and completely screening out lethal UV-C radiation. Chlorine from chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) is responsible for destroying part of the ozone layer over Antarctica. CFCs have been widely used since the 1930s in refrigerators, and air conditioners and remain in the atmosphere for decades. FOR MORE, GO TO LINK: http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story2&cid=570&ncid=753&e=3&u=/nm/20020917/sc_nm/environment_ozone_australia_dc