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IN DEPTH: Is Sunscreen Too Dangerous for Children?
Comments on "Bill Would Legislate Maryland Students' Use of Sunscreen"
A survey of 24 Maryland school systems found that four "require a doctor's order for students to apply sunscreen. Eleven require at least a parent's note. Eight systems require students to leave the product with the school health officer." Montgomery County, MD, schools "treat sunscreen as an over-the-counter medicine. A student must bring in a doctor's note to apply it, and only older students are allowed to carry it with them at school." (Related: Bill Would Legislate Maryland Students' Use of Sunscreen)
While there may be some risk in letting children carry sunscreen at school--a student might share his or her sunscreen with another student who has an allergy, or a young child might get the lotion in his eyes--that risk pales in comparison to the risk of developing skin cancer. In fact, there is a "growing consensus that sun exposure in childhood increases [the] risk of skin cancer later in life."
But in public schools today, with the fear of a lawsuit lurking behind even the simplest of decisions, no one has the authority to balance risks and benefits and make a reasonable decision.
This erosion of authority in our schools results from a broader change in our perception of risk. Americans are no longer willing to accept reasonable risks. If something goes wrong, it's assumed somebody should pay. "You took a risk" is an accusation, reason enough to be sued.
But there is a problem with approaching risk in this way: When you focus too hard on avoiding risks, you end up avoiding useful activity. Ultimately, you can end up facing even greater risks than the ones you sought to avoid.
Thus, in Maryland schools, the threat of a lawsuit over a sunscreen-related accident has become more ominous than the threat of students developing skin cancer later in life.
The Maryland State legislature is now considering a bill that would "require school health officers to make sure students are allowed to wear sunscreen when they go outdoors on sunny days." In 2002 and 2003, California enacted laws giving students "the right to wear sunscreen, hats and sun-protective clothing."
Policymakers should be commended for addressing these important issues. What is alarming, however, is to watch legislatures struggle to address a range of secondary problems in our schools--including not only medical products, but also bullying, disorder, crumbling buildings, and more--by adding more laws and regulations. This is a time-honored approach, but it only contributes to the root problem: the inability of anyone in our public schools to make decisions for the common good.
Educators spend their days trying to comply with volumes of law. Miss a procedural step, face a lawsuit. But the worry about legal risk can create even more serious risks--our children's safety and their ability to learn are threatened when teachers cannot maintain order in the classroom.
Extreme risk avoidance and legal fear have also led to the demise of America's playgrounds. Just last month, a Wyoming couple sued their son's school district for $25,000 because he suffered injuries after falling off the slide. All across America, seesaws, merry-go-rounds and monkey bars are being removed and replaced by rubber-coated equipment that all but the youngest children find boring.
But while parents and school lawyers were worrying about playground injuries, childhood obesity tripled over the last three decades. According to the Institute of Medicine, "For children born in the United States in 2000, the lifetime risk of being diagnosed with diabetes at some point in their lives is estimated at 30 percent for boys and 40 percent for girls if obesity rates level off." (emphasis added)
Society doesn't function effectively if a principal can't make the reasonable choice to let students carry sunscreen; if judges can't throw out lawsuits over unfortunate, but inevitable, playground injuries; and if doctors can't decide not to order an expensive but unnecessary test, so that limited resources can go to help those who need it most.
Sure, some principals, judges and doctors might make bad decisions. But they can be held accountable--principals to parents, judges to higher courts, doctors to (strengthened) review boards. Ultimately, we have to accept the risk of a bad decision. The risk of avoiding reasonable decisions because of what might happen--and who might sue--is too great.
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