One Thing We Kids Never Took On A School Field Trip,

was sunscreen,

but today any outdoor activity is looked at with caution as it is now accepted that sunburn increases the risk of skin cancer, this study published in the journal Cancer Epidemiology, Biomarkers & Prevention, shows that five serious episodes of sunburn by the age of 20 increases the risk of deadly skin cancer by 80 per cent, 

add to this that skin cancer can run in the family and if a family member recently passed away from it, it would seem that it is all the more reason for a child in the family to be protected with sunscreen, but San Antonio parent Christy Riggs said her child wasn’t allowed to bring sunscreen to campus and suffered the burning consequences, Riggs said her 10-year-old daughter went on a school field trip recently and came back sun-burned, Riggs said district policy didn’t allow her daughter to bring sunscreen to reapply it during the duration of the school trip,

there must of course be a reason cast in stone for this failure to protect children from the effects of sunburn and here it is, in Texas, North East Independent School District spokeswoman Aubrey Chancellor said sunscreen is considered a medication, something children need a doctor’s note to have at school, 'typically, sunscreen is a toxic substance, and we can’t allow toxic things in to be in our schools,' Chancellor said if parents know their child may be outdoors, they should come to school fully covered in sunscreen, at this time, she said, sunscreen can’t be brought by students to school campuses, 'we have to look at the safety of all of our students and we can’t allow children to share sunscreen,' she said. 'they could possibly have an allergic reaction (or) they could ingest it, it’s really a dangerous situation,'

not as dangerous in later years as to develop skin cancer then? I know I should not say it and heaven forbid it should happen but if one of the children in later years should develop skin cancer I hope the school has deep enough pockets for the resulting litigation, in the mean time I guess local doctors will get writers cramp for writing out what could be scores of prescriptions for sun cream, I wonder if the doctors can sue for repetitive strain injury writing out so many of the same prescriptions?