Is your nail polish toxic? The New York Times has just revealed the results of an investigation involving the cosmetics industry, beauty salons and the products most used by women for make-up, starting with nail polishes.
Don't store avocado like this: it's dangerousYour enamel è toxic? The New York Times has just revealed the results of an investigation involving the cosmetics industry, beauty salons and the products most used by women for make-up, starting with nail polishes.
Some ingredients used in nail products have been linked to cancer, abortion, lung diseases and other ailments. We think both of the risks that women run in daily life and of the diseases that affect them beauty center operators.
The New York Times tells the stories of two women employed in US beauty salons who often use nail products such as nail polishes in their work. One of the women has had to go through a miscarriage, the other has carried the pregnancy to term, but the baby is going through severe developmental problems.
Among those who work in the field of manicures in the USA, stories like these would unfortunately be very common, so much so that older operators warn girls of childbearing age to keep away from the mixtures of enamels, solvent lacquers and glues that the beauticians who deal with the nail care manage every day.
- ingredients present in glazes would be increasingly correlated in scientific studies to the appearance of serious illnesses and negative effects on both women's fertility both on the risk of miscarriage and on the development of children during and after pregnancy.
Among the workers of beauty salons, respiratory diseases and diseases would prevail skin diseases. A sign that the substances present in the products they use are certainly not good for health. The issues are not limited to the manicure workers, but also hairdressers e makeup artists, with an increase in the death rate from Hodgkin's disease, and with the risk of having children underweight at birth and contracting multiple myeloma, a form of cancer.
Le definitive conclusions however, they are still elusive, partly because research in this area is still limited in number. Very few studies, according to the New York Times, focus specifically on beauty salon operators.
Above all, there is a fear ofcumulative effect over time exposure to hazardous chemicals. In the United States, federal law governing the safety of cosmetics is over 75 years old and does not require companies to share product safety information with the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). The law prohibits ingredients that are harmful to users but does not contain provisions to evaluate the effects of chemicals before they arrive on the shelves for sale and use.
Le lobby have opposed the adoption of stricter control rules and companies say their products contain miniscule quantities of chemicals identified as potentially dangerous and therefore they would not pose a threat. Yet, according to the New York Times, the negative health consequences of frequent contact with cosmetic products by professionals in the beauty sector are evident.
What are the dangerous substances present in glazes? The investigation he identified a real trio of toxic substances.
1) Toulene: According to the Environmental Protection Agency, overexposure to toulente can cause eye and nose irritation, fatigue, weakness, confusion, dizziness, headache, anxiety, muscle fatigue, inability to sleep, numbness, skin rashes, damage to the liver and kidneys in severe cases and more.
2) Dibutylphthalate (DBP): dibutyl phthalate, which the European Union banned in 2003, can cause irritation to the eyes and nose, stomach and respiratory system; prolonged exposure and other concentrations can be hazardous to human reproduction and development, according to the EPA.
3) Formaldehyde: formaldehyde can cause irritation and skin rashes. It will come prohibited in the European Union by 2016.
However, officials from the cosmetics industry denied that chemicals listed as dangerous could lead to health problems. They claim that DBP, toulene and formaldehyde are safe under current conditions of use in the United States. In short, the US cosmetics industry defends itself just as one would expect and does not think about the health risks of operators who come into contact with these substances every day.
An occasional manicure may be safe, but what about the health risks of those who use nail polishes, solvents and adhesives for years and hours a day in their work? We hope that the European situation is not as bad and that with the banning of formaldehyde in beauty products, steps are taken to make cosmetics and the make-up sector safer with its operators.
Specialties Thu the report of the Environmental Protection Agency “Protecting the health of nail salon workers”.
Marta Albè
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