Not The Onion: a school district in Texas has banned sunscreen from schools due to the fact that they're afraid children will eat it.
The North East Independent School District has the restriction because it considers sunscreen toxic, and fears kids will eat it, parent Christy Riggs, of San Antonio, told Fox News.
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School district spokeswoman Aubrey Chancellor told ABC News that allergic reactions to sunscreen are one of the numerous reasons the district does not allow sunblock in its 72 schools.
“We don’t want students sharing sunscreen,” Chancellor told the station. “If students get it in their eyes or react badly to the sunscreen it can be quite serious.”
In order to use sunscreen, a child must have a note from a doctor and apply it in a nurse's office. This policy includes field trips, which are notoriously lacking in school nurses. According to Riggs, whose father passed away from skin cancer earlier this year, her daughter returned home from a field trip with a bad sunburn.
School officials advised parents to put sunscreen on their children prior to the start of the school day.
This policy is dumb and parents have a right to be angry. For starters, sunscreen doesn't last all day: it needs to be reapplied every few hours. Secondly, the school district is in San Antonio, Texas. Texas is pretty hot and sunny. I'm assuming the majority of Texans have used sunblock at some point in their lives and are aware that it's not food. I understand that the school is trying to cover themselves in today's lawsuit-happy culture, but needlessly exposing children to sunburns and putting them at risk for future skin cancer is not okay.
The no-sunscreen policy may be reviewed in the coming year.