States now allowing sunscreen at schools without doctor’s OK

PROVIDENCE, R.I. Susan Grenon makes sure her son is lathered with sunscreen before he leaves for school in the morning, but the fairskinned 10-year-old can’t bring a bottle to reapply it without a doctor’s note.

Many school systems categorize sunscreen as an over-the-counter medication requiring special paperwork, but several states have been pushing to loosen restrictions to make it easier for kids to protect themselves from skin cancer.

Washington Gov. Jay Inslee, a Democrat, signed a bill into law this month allowing students to use sunscreen at school without notes from a doctor and parent. Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey, a Republican, enacted a similar measure late last month, following Utah in March. Oregon, Texas and New York have also freed students to use sunscreen in recent years. California did it back in 2002.

Backed by the personal-care-products industry, such proposals also have wide and bipartisan support from health experts and lawmakers. Legislation is moving forward in Rhode Island and Louisiana. The main opposition has come from school nurses voicing caution about children bringing in lotions that can cause allergic reactions.

Democratic state Rep. David Bennett, who sponsored the Rhode Island bill, said making it so hard for children to apply sunscreen on themselves at school “sends kids a conflicting message about the very real danger of unprotected sun exposure.”