An expose published by the New York Times this year highlighted how ingredients in nail products have been tied to miscarriages, cancer, and other illnesses–particularly for those who work as manicurists. However, the industry has been fighting nail polish poisoning regulation for years.
Chemicals, Miscarriages & Child Deformities from Nail Polish Poisoning
Focusing on stories linked to one shop in Queens, New York, the article describes workers suffering from multiple, mysterious miscarriages and children of workers that have serious problems speaking and walking. In fact, nail polish poisoning has become such an issue across the country that many who work in these shops have taken it upon themselves to discourage women of childbearing age to work in them.
The dangers are primarily to the manicurists themselves, as the ingredients (chemicals) they handle every day have been linked (via medical research) to serious health problems. For example, 17 out of the 20 commonly hazardously nail polish ingredients have been listed as being hazardous to the respiratory tract. Additional studies have documented at least 20 percent of manicurists having persistent coughs, night and day. These same ingredients are also causing severe skin ailments and even burning off fingerprints.
Specifically, scientists have identified dibutyl phthalate, toluene and formaldehyde as the three most hazardous chemicals these workers are exposed to. Dibutyl phthalate and formaldehyde have already been banned or limited in several countries. And while skin ailments and respiratory problems have long been associated with the profession and these chemicals, these same chemicals have also been linked to more dire medical issues such as cancer, Hodgkin’s disease, and abnormal fetal development. It’s such an issue that, in communities where many manicurists live, some health services have noted actual epidemics of severely sick people. Doctors regularly see patients suffering from serious breathing problems similar to suffering from asthma, sometimes even sarcoidosis, an inflammatory disease in the lungs, going so far as to equate manicurists to smokers.
Aren’t There Laws Protecting These Workers?
There is one law—more than 75 years old–that regulates cosmetics safety and supposedly bans ingredients that are harmful,. However, it does not require companies to share information with and allow the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to actually evaluate the effects of these chemicals before they are put on the market. Thus, the industry is grossly in need of new regulations.
And while industry continues to dispute the negative effects of these products, even the Occupational Safety and Health Administration has noted that the chemicals used are definitively dangerous to the workers. In addition, the FDA itself complains of the limitations it faces in regulating these products because of how the outdated law is written.
Still, the federal standards have not been revised—in spite of having support from officials—due to industry pouring millions each year into lobbying and thus blocking progress. As a result, the industry is largely regulating itself, and will continue to do so. And while some government agencies have recommended that these workers wear protective gear such as gloves and masks, the salon owners themselves have discouraged their use out of fear that it might scare the customers away.
Toxic Tort Attorneys
Sometimes, the cost of running a business seems to be the health and welfare of the workers and its customers. Yet no one should have to suffer from cancer or respiratory illness for the sake of their job.
We’ve spent years litigating against these bad actors and negligent employers. If you have been harmed by exposure to toxic products such as nail polish poisoning, contact the environmental hazard attorneys at Harrell & Nowak today for a free consultation.