Sunblock for students: La. House says no prescription needed

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Sunblock for students: La. House says no prescription needed

BATON ROUGE, La. (AP) — A prescription for sunscreen? The Louisiana House overwhelmingly agreed Thursday that public school students should be able to carry sunblock without a doctor's permission or their school's blessing.

Lawmakers voted 99-1 to spell out in state law that a student "may possess and self-apply sunscreen" at school, on a school bus or at a school function. The proposal heads next to the Senate for debate.

Ville Platte Rep. Bernard LeBas, a Democrat, said he sponsored the bill as a cancer-fighting measure and to address allowances for sunscreen use that vary from school district to district.

Rep. Patricia Smith, a Baton Rouge Democrat, voted against the measure after unsuccessfully trying to require students in kindergarten through the fifth grade to have a school employee apply the sunscreen.

"For younger children, I think there ought to be some protections for them," Smith said.

Rep. Barry Ivey, a Baton Rouge Republican, asked her: "It's sunscreen. Has anybody (overdosed) on sunscreen?"

Lawmakers rejected Smith's changes in a 67-25 vote .

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House Bill 412: www.legis.la.gov

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via Education Week American Education News Site of Record April 28, 2017 at 01:39AM
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