DERMATOLOGISTS TO BUILD `SUN-SAFE' PLAYGROUND IN NEW YORK

DERMATOLOGISTS TO BUILD `SUN-SAFE' PLAYGROUND IN NEW YORK

STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. (Wireless Flash) -- Good old sunshine may be a bigger threat to your kids than the neighborhood bully. That's the opinion of the American Academy of Dermatology, which is constructing an experimental playground in Staten Island, New York, that will be screened from all sunlight. The 3000-plus square foot "Sun Safe" playground is covered by a huge tarp-like structure and the slides, swings and bridges all have roofs on top of them to shelter any rays of sun that may filter in through the tarp. The organization says it's important to shelter kids from the sun because it's estimated 20 percent of all kids born in 1999 will develop skin cancer due to sun exposure. But not everyone thinks the new playground is a sunny idea. Joe Levy of the International Smart Tan Network thinks the covered-up playground overestimates the risks of sun exposure and fears it may make kids believe it's dangerous to sit in the sun for any period of time at all.

CONTACT: Amy Slavitt (AAD press contact); NYC; (212) 610-3888; Joe Levy (Smart Tan); Jackson, MI; (517) 784-1772