mom angry after kids badly sunburned during field trip (school ban on sunscreen)

[frazzled]

56. As someone who recently had Mohs surgery for a basal cell carcinoma

(I'm sure others here have had the same), I can't tell you how short-sighted this policy is. Back when I was a kid they didn't even have sunscreen, and the sunburns I got then are beginning to have their effect a half-century later on me. I always put sunscreen on my kids (especially my daughter, who is very fair), but I missed it for one field trip when the class went skiing. Stupid me: since I'm not a skier, I didn't foresee the danger of sunburn in February. I worry to this day that the bad sunburn she got that day will come back to haunt.

Basal cell or squamous cell carcinomas are one thing: they are usually contained and are very operable. But it can be expensive and disfiguring in some cases. Melanoma, on the other hand, is another story (a friend of mine died of it). The Skin Cancer foundation states:

One or more blistering sunburns in childhood or adolescence more than double a person's chances of developing melanoma later in life.24

A person's risk for melanoma doubles if he or she has had more than five sunburns at any age.25

http://www.skincancer.org/skin-cancer-information/skin-cancer-facts

I'm not sure what sort of "allergic reaction" the state of Washington is worried about, but it should be their duty to worry about the future health of these children.