The images of two girls from Tacoma, Wash., who became badly sunburned after spending an afternoon outside at a school field day are painful to look at.

Ouch! Why weren’t these girls wearing sunscreen?

Teachers weren’t allowed to provide the girls with sunscreen—even though their skin was obviously getting fried—due to a statewide policy. Huh?

Turns out that a state law in Washington forbids staff from applying or giving students sunscreen without a doctor’s note. What’s more, for liability reasons, students can only bring sunscreen to school and apply it themselves if they have a note from a physician. “The law exists because the additives in lotions and sunscreens can cause an allergic reaction in children, and sunscreens are regulated by the FDA as an over-the-counter drug,” according to MSNBC. Similar policies exist in 49 states; California is the only state to allow sunscreen in public schools without a doctor’s note.

Jesse Michener, the mother of the two girls with seared skin, is troubled by this law and she’s challenging it. She partnered with Project Backpack, a nonprofit advocacy group focused on changing state and local policies to allow sunscreen on school campuses. Together they plan to connect with national organizations and put more force behind the movement to put sunscreen back in the hands of children.

Michener posted the images of her badly burned girls on her blog, Life Photographed, and they quickly caught the attention of the world. The story was covered by news sites ranging from the British Daily Mail to CBS News, but Michener says, “This isn’t a story about us. I want this to be a part of the bigger picture and spark a grass roots movement to change these laws.”

Michener’s daughters, Violet, 11, and Zoe, 9, have fair skin but their mother didn’t apply sunscreen on the morning of the field day because it was raining. She figured the activities would be held inside. But the weather cleared and Violet and Zoe spent five hours in direct sun.

“Teachers remarked that my daughters looked like they were burning but nobody did anything about it,” Michener told SFGate.

Because of the law nobody could have done anything about it. “The girls say they were forced to watch one teacher put on her own sunscreen and then explain to the burning students that it was ‘just for her’ when they begged her for some,” according to the Daily Mail.

What’s more, the school doesn’t allow children to wear hats.



The girls’ burns were so serious that Michener brought them to the doctor. The sisters’ skin blistered and they both had headaches, chills and pain. They stayed home from school for a day.

A week later, Michener says that Violet’s face is still pink but the skin on her shoulders is “alligator-y and leathery.”

“But I don’t want to make this a story about my girls’ bad sunburns,” Michener says. “We need to move on and look ahead and now it’s time to throw myself at trying to catalyze change.”

The school apologized to the family and said they would support a revision to the sunscreen policy.

Source and inspiration: MSNBC and Daily Mail