Lawmaker Proposes Change to Legalize Sunscreen In Schools

Indiana could soon join a growing list of states with laws allowing students to carry sunscreen at school.

The Food and Drug Administration classifies sunscreen as an over the counter medication, like painkillers or cold medicine, and that means some school policies require students to have a doctor or parent’s note in order to even bring sunscreen to school.

But Sen. Liz Brown (R-Fort Wayne) says the bill she’s filed for the 2018 session aims to change that for the state.

“I would hope we could all agree that sunscreen is a benign lotion that has great benefits,” she says.

Brown’s bill would allow Hoosier students to carry sunscreen at school without a note from home, because she says those policies can discourage kids from using sunscreen when they need it.

“If they have to go somewhere and the parent tells them ‘go somewhere else, to get your sunscreen that you have to have on,’ we all know that the likelihood of that – at least from my personal experience – isn’t going to happen,” Brown says.

Washington, Utah, and Alabama are just a few states that have passed similar laws.