School bans bottles of sun screen...with predictable results

[The Straight Story]

Schoolgirl Aimee Bowen burnt as her Swansea school bans cream

Schoolgirl Aimee Bowen suffered severe sunburn during a sports day because her school has banned bottles of suncream.


Aimee, 10, returned home bright red and covered in blisters after the event. Her parents, Andrew and Victoria, said they were told pupils weren’t allowed to bring in sunblock in case other children had an allergic reaction to it.

Pennard Primary School, near Swansea, south Wales, said it followed sun safety guidelines and parents could go to school during the lunch break to reapply cream.
Mr Bowen said he always sent Amy to school with cream on but it was ‘totally crazy’ not to let her take in some lotion.

http://www.metro.co.uk/news/869270-schoolgirl-aimee-bowen-burnt-as-her-swansea-school-bans-cream

[GreenPartyVoter]

1. I hadn't heard of sunscreen allergies before, but I would think this is a

case of questionable judgment concerning a possible allergic reaction vs. a very likely sunburn on fair skinned kids.

[Quantess]

3. Certain sunscreens give me a horrible allergic reaction.

Over a period of a couple of hours, my skin gets red and itchy and swollen. It stays that way for days afterward.

I still haven't figured out which ingredient I'm allergic to. I am definitely allergic to Aveeno and some Neutrogena formulas. Coppertone, I can wear.

[GreenPartyVoter]

9. Do you have reactions to other people wearing it? Is it like peanut allergies that way?

[Quantess]

12. Yes, I get allergic reactions when other people wear sunscreen.

.
.
:eyes:
Was that a serious question, or does saying that I'm allergic to some sunscreens annoy you?

[GreenPartyVoter]

13. Yes, that was a serious question. I wanted to know if it was a contact issue or if it's

like peanuts where it's an airborne issue. (Although I'm still not sure how they can resolve this issue in the school. Kids can get by with not having peanuts available in school to them, but clearly not having sunscreen for fair-skinned kids can pose health issues as can having it around people who are allergic. It would help if there was a way to know what ingredient(s) cause problems and ban them rather than all sunscreens. I wonder if that's possible?)

[Aerows]

16. It may be PABA

That causes a reaction in a lot of people.

[LeftishBrit]

2. That is pretty daft if reported accurately

You're more likely to get a severe reaction from excessive sun exposure than ordinary sun lotion; and at least having an allergic reaction to sunblock doesn't increase your chances of later skin cancer, whereas severe sunburn does.

One does have to be cautious, as it's not unknown for people to rush to newspapers with very garbled tales of 'here's what my child's dreadful school has done!' - but certainly if true it's idiotic.

[muriel_volestrangler]

19. Seems an accurate summary of the longer local paper report:

Andrew and Victoria Bowen say their daughter Aimee was severely burnt on her shoulders while taking part in a practice for their upcoming sports day.

The couple have raised the issue of sun cream with the school before and were told pupils were not allowed to bring it in with them in case some children had an allergic reaction.
...
"Aimee is ten now and is perfectly capable of applying sun cream herself ."

Head teacher of Pennard Primary School, Sharon Freeguard, said: "We follow guidelines issued in 2006 which are for the children to cover up, wear a hat and put cream on before they come to school.

"Parents are welcome at a lunch-time to come to school and reapply cream if they feel it is necessary.

http://www.thisissouthwales.co.uk/Crazy-rules-sun-cream-left-girl-burnt/story-12934966-detail/story.html

The school seems to think children cannot be trusted to apply suncream, rather than use it as weapons against any children who are allergic (there's no indication if they know if any child is). It seems stupid to tell parents they should have to come and re-apply suncream in the middel of the day, especially when the school is holding a sports day practice and the children will not be allowed to wear a braod-brimmed hat as the school facetiously suggests. They may well have told the child to wear a singlet too, leaving her shoulders uncovered.,

[Recursion]

4. This is why we need to mandate that young kids be allowed to play in dirt (nt)

[snooper2]

5. Jesus how fucking stupid...

[Ikonoklast]

6. Schools only want to protect themselves from liabiity.

Looks like it backfired.

[TBF]

21. My son's preschool requires that we send in the lotion (whatever brand we choose),

and sign a liability form so the teachers can apply it before each recess (they go out twice daily). We have pretty strong sun in Texas and this policy seems to please everyone. Maybe they could try that ...

[WatsonT]

7. 1% may have a bad reaction to the sunscreen

to protect them we must ensure that 90% will have a bad reaction to the sun.

[LynneSin]

8. As someone with very fair skin who can burn easily - this is absolute bullshit

The school to put an entire class at risk over a few with allergies is ridiculous. If I was that 10 year old girl who came home with 2 & 3rd degree burns on my face (and btw, that's what would happen if I go without - I'm very fair skinned), my parents would be suing the school.

I understand there are some children in this world with some awfully severe allergies but putting dozens of children at risk for 1 or 2 children is just crazy. If one child has a severe allergy to sunscreen then perhaps that child should have alternative activities available that day.

[kestrel91316]

10. People who are deathly allergic to what OTHER people eat and wear

need to stay home and let those other people live their lives.

I suspect this, like the "I'll die if I get near peanuts!1!" panic, is a lot of hooey. That girl who supposedly died of peanut allergy after kissing a boy who had eaten peanuts - apparently either never happened, or it turned out her death had nothing to do with his peanut ingestion.

[Capitalocracy]

24. Which one?

Those are two very conflicting stories, that it never happened or that she died but not from that.

Although I haven't heard of the girl who supposedly died of peanut allergy after kissing a boy, myself.

What I want to know is why is this the first time I'm hearing about people having dangerous allergies to sunscreen that others are wearing?

[pipi_k]

11. Oh good lord...

If kids who are allergic to it come into contact with a classmate wearing it, won't that cause a reaction too?

Especially if the kids are sweating.

What do they do...throw a plastic bag over the kids whose parents came in to apply sunscreen to them?

this time the stupid really does burn. Literally.

[toddwv]

14. Here's the thing.

I can respect the banning of things that cause severe allergic responses if they are easily replaceable.

For instants, peanuts. Ok,a bit of a pain in the ass, but there are MANY other items to choose from.

Latex, no problem, there are alternatives to latex.

But the use of sunscreen is a health issue for other people. It's just simply idiotic to ban it. Now these kids with fairskin, or NORMAL skin for that matter have to choose between playing an outdoor sport and burning to a crisp?

C'mon, use some sense in these matters.

[WatsonT]

15. Just keep everyone inside all the time

far better no one gets any physical exercise than possible 1 in 100,000 get a slight skin irritation from sunscreen.

[toddwv]

17. Yep. We could replace gym class with "video gaming"

I'm sure the kids would love that.

[Forkboy]

22. Considering that the average age of a video game player is 37...

..I'm betting most parents wouldn't mind either. :)

[XanaDUer]

18. WTH?

What about ppl with a tendency towards skin cancer?

[LiberalAndProud]

20. Very bad choice on the school's part.

While the symptoms of sunburn are usually temporary (such as red skin that is painful to the touch), the skin damage is often permanent and can have serious long-term health effects, including skin cancer. By the time the skin starts to become painful and red, the damage has been done. The pain is worst between 6 and 48 hours after sun exposure.
http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/ency/article/003227.htm

Possible allergic reaction vs. almost certain sunburn? No contest, IMO. Very bad choice.

[LeftishBrit]

23. A comment on this and related issues

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-14104524

From the director of a UK skin cancer charity.