Kids can’t apply sunscreen at school without a doctor’s note
When at school, students can’t apply sunscreen without a doctor’s note. The reason for this is that the Food and Drug Administration classifies sunscreen as an over-the-counter drug, like cough syrup, as CBS reports.
“If there was widespread use of sunscreen and that was used properly, we would definitely see a decline in our skin cancer rates,” said dermatologist Jeff Ashley, who helped craft California’s law to allow sunscreen in schools.
Rhode Island is one of the eight states with pending legislation that makes an exception when it comes to sunscreen. Another seven states have passed a law that allows students to apply sunscreen.
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Susan Granon, from Rhode Island, has a 10-year-old son Paul who she always covers up in sunscreen before heading out. The threat of skin cancer was a wake-up call to protect herself and her son, who burns easily.
“I have had three basal cell carcinomas and four precancerous moles removed in the last three years. It’s a big deal,” Granon said.
“All the damage is done young, but you don’t know it now. But you’re preventing it when they get older,” she said.
States in the northern part of the country have some of the highest rates of melanoma, with over 70,000 people diagnosed each year and around 9,000 dying from the disease.
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