School confiscates girl's Vaseline for her dry lips... due to health and safety fears

By ALISON SMITH SQUIRE

'Not prescribed': Ellie-Maye Wilkins, 7, from Sandbach, Cheshire with a tin of the offending Vaseline

When her seven-year-old daughter complained of dry lips, Joanne Wilkins gave her a tiny tin of Vaseline to apply at school.

But when Ellie-Maye went to use it, it was confiscated – because it is not a prescribed medicine.

And when Mrs Wilkins queried the decision, she was told if she wanted her daughter to moisturise her lips, she would need to take her out of school to apply the Vaseline.

‘This is health and safety gone mad,’ said Mrs Wilkins, 28, a project manager, yesterday. ‘Where has common sense gone? I can’t believe how my daughter was humiliated.


'Health and safety gone mad': The headmaster of Wistaston Church Lane Primary School confirmed that unless the Vaseline was prescribed, Ellie-Maye could not use it in school


‘This harmless ointment was taken away in front of all her friends. She was made to feel naughty and as a result was close to tears – all over a tiny pot of Vaseline.’

Mrs Wilkins took advice over her daughter’s dry lips from her pharmacist.

She said: ‘She recommended Vaseline Lip Therapy. It is the basic original Vaseline – just petroleum jelly - and is colourless and odourless.

‘She could apply it as often as she wished and it comes in a tiny pocket-sized tin that Ellie-Maye could easily carry in her schoolbag.

‘In fact, Ellie-Maye needed help opening the tin and the first teacher of the day helped her and had no problem with the Vaseline at all.

But at lunchtime, when she went to apply the Vaseline again, a second teacher she asked to help open it said she shouldn’t have it in school at all.

source: dailymail