Anti-Drug Program Gets Under Kids’ Skin

Twenty-eight itchy fifth-graders who dared put on T-shirts handed out by police officers in the DARE anti-drug program Friday ended up with a rash on their necks--probably caused by chemicals in the new shirts, according to authorities.

They should all be fine, a doctor said.

“They probably just got an itch from the irritation,” said Dr. Martin Kay, a North Hollywood dermatologist who agreed to see at least three of the Fair Avenue Elementary children who experienced the worst itching.

DARE--The Drug Abuse Resistance Education program--originated in the Los Angeles Police Department a few years ago. Now used by departments nationwide, the program involves sending officers into the classrooms to teach children about the dangers of illegal substances, said Don Cox, an LAPD spokesman.

In December, about 140 fifth-graders at Fair Avenue finished a 16-week course, said Maxine Matlen, the school’s principal.

At the time, DARE T-shirts were not available so the officers returned Friday morning to hand them out.

The children put on the black shirts, decorated with large red letters reading “DARE” and headed onto the playground, Matlen said. Soon, 28 of the youngsters began to complain of itching on their necks.

“It was not a rash,” Matlen said. “It was red-looking, like a sunburn.”

The school contacted Dr. Robert Goldberg--the city’s assistant medical director--while the school nurse monitored the students, Matlen said. By the end of the lunch period, only three girls still had symptoms.

It is not uncommon for new cotton clothes with lettering to cause skin irritation, according to Kay, who agreed to open his clinic Sunday to see the three girls and any others who may still be afflicted.

Such shirts often have chemicals--similar to those found in nail polish--that make the logos shine and are removed or weakened by washing, Kay said. The irritation may have been brought on partly by the children sweating as they played, moistening the shirts.

He said the children’s skin was probably irritated only on their necks because their torsos were protected by their regular shirts underneath the T-shirts.

About 1,000 of the shirts had been kept in a warehouse in the LAPD’s Northeast station, Goldberg said.

A few weeks ago, officers found some dust on the floor, heavy metals such as lead, mercury, silver, cadmium and other possibly toxic substances left there when the building was a photo lab in the 1970s, Goldberg said. The officers opened one of the boxes of T-shirts to check whether the dust had filtered in, but it had not.

“They were in a [sealed] box,” Goldberg said. “You wouldn’t expect it to get in.”

Though he did say he tried on one of the DARE T-shirts and “found it to be somewhat scratchy . . . it felt much better after I washed it.”

The rash complained of by the three girls should be gone by Sunday, Kay said.

“It’s not that unusual a situation,” he said. “But when you have that many kids itching it seems more serious.”