January 14, 2005

Nail Salons May Contain Hidden Health Risks

By Lorraine Sanders
Special to the Neighborhood Newswire

Amid bottles labeled Pink Champagne Dreams and Dewey Fawn, many Bay Area women -- and an increasing number of men -- treat themselves to a weekly manicure/pedicure in one of the ubiquitous, low-cost nail salons peppering city streets. But this pleasant ritual may pose hidden health risks that are largely visited upon a single ethnic population.

California’s 34,000 licensed nail technicians -- a group that's 85 percent Vietnamese and overwhelmingly female -- face health hazards due to overexposure to toxic chemicals.

According to Danette Schmidt, a former nail technician who heads the nail technology program at the San Francisco Institute of Esthetics and Cosmetology, "If you do it for eight or 10 years, you can get really sick from it."

A recent U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) report lists 26 potentially dangerous chemicals found in nail products. Most are highly volatile and evaporate easily at room temperature.

The EPA report says that prolonged exposure to any of these chemicals could be harmful, with possible health effects ranging from minor rashes to cancer. But the extent of health risks to salon workers is largely unknown.

Every one of the 32 nail products examined by the Environmental Working Group (EWG), a nonprofit organization that investigates environmental and health hazards, contained at least one ingredient not yet studied by the Cosmetic Ingredient Review panel, the industry body responsible for cosmetics reviews. And while the Food and Drug Administration responds to consumer complaints, manufacturers largely determine the safety of their products.

"Without that basic info, it's impossible to do any more safety assessments," said Sonya Lunder, who helped develop EWG’s report “Skin Deep.” What is known could give some consumers and salon workers cause for concern. According to the EWG, 69 percent of the nail products it studied contained ingredients known to pose cancer risks, and 28 percent contained ingredients linked to reproductive problems, including birth defects.

However, Douglas Schoon, vice president of science and technology at nail product manufacturer Creative Nail Design, said the EWG's study is misleading. He argues that manufacturers test chemicals extensively before selling them to the public, and that every chemical is dangerous if used improperly.

"People use the word toxic, but rubbing alcohol and salt water are toxic," he said. “Whether it's toxic in the way that it is used is another question.”

Still, information on Material Safety Data Sheets -- which federal law requires manufacturers to provide upon request and businesses to have for each potentially hazardous chemical used in their operations -- clearly states that many nail products are dangerous to both humans and the environment.

In partnership with the University of California, San Francisco Community Occupational Health Project (COHP), and School of Nursing, the Asian Law Caucus has visited more than 100 Oakland nail salons to assess environmental and safety issues and provide education about workers' health and legal rights.

Nan Lashuay, COHP’s director and an assistant professor at UC’s School of Nursing, says the project will begin offering clinical examinations to nail technicians in 2005. The hope is that these exams will provide data on the number and kinds of illnesses nail workers contract and whether these problems are connected to their working conditions.

Small nail shops are notoriously tight-lipped about their operations. That’s because a large proportion of them are family owned and operated by recent immigrants to the United States, said T. Van Do, a community advocate for the Asian Law Caucus.

Many Southeast Asian workers come to the United States without the English language skills necessary for most jobs, and the nail-technician-licensing exam is available in Vietnamese. Once licensed, most people work for relatives or family friends. In talking with Oakland nail technicians, Do found few who understood their rights or the possible health hazards of their jobs. But even if they did, she is not sure they would act differently.

"The nonconventional employer-employee relationship really complicates matters," she said. “In many instances, it makes it really difficult to assert their rights, even if the workers know they have rights.”

If workers do understand the health risks they face in salons, they are likely to consider them a necessary part of the job. Ventilation systems, fans, air purifiers, and masks are expensive, and salons that provide them inevitably have to raise their rates -- and risk losing customers -- to remain profitable.

Any nail salon offering services for $16 or less has to be skimping on safety to make ends meet, says Kelly Hensley, owner of Potrero Hill nail spa Mani Pedi. At her salon, where a manicure/pedicure costs around $40, every nail technician has two sets of tools and an individual sterilizer.

Danette Schmidt disagrees that most safety violations come from cheap nail salons. "Some say it's only the Vietnamese, but it's not," Schmidt said. She recently worked as a secret shopper inspecting a luxury salon in San Francisco and said she was appalled at the number of safety violations she witnessed.

Nail salons are largely left to themselves to implement health safeguards, unless consumers complain to the State Board of Cosmetology and Barbering. "We encourage people to file complaints," said Patti Roberts, spokesperson for the State Board.
With only 18 inspectors statewide, consumer complaints play a role in how inspectors are deployed. In December, for example, seven inspectors were sent to San Jose after skin infections broke out at nail salons. The dearth of inspectors means there's little incentive for nail salons to upgrade their practices to avoid fines. And consumers don't want to pay more for the services. "I wouldn't want to pay more if their equipment were safer. They should be in the first place," said a San Mateo woman who gets her nails done twice a month, who asked that her name be withheld.

Jessica Easterling, a former nail technician, said her experience working in salons cured her of ever wanting to get her nails done there.
"The majority of nail salons I've seen barely clean up after the last customer before ushering the next customer into the 'relaxing heat and massage chair/foot bath,’" she said. "The prospect of disease doesn't relax me in the least."

While the state can impose heavy fines for violations like working without a license or sloppy sanitation, it can do little to ensure workers' health and safety unless employees file complaints with Cal/OSHA. Cal/OSHA conducts random inspections, but only in targeted high-risk industries, which currently doesn’t include nail salons. Unless nail technicians complain, which is unlikely considering their immigrant status and close ties to employers, OSHA is unlikely to investigate their working conditions.

The Asian Law Caucus, the COHP, and the newly created Vietnamese Nail Care Professional Association (VNCPA) are trying to improve workers' conditions. Tin Nguyen, a son of nail professionals who founded the VNCPA in November, said change would only come from better communication, which his organization aims to improve by contacting salon owners, compiling an industry newsletter, and assisting workers with everything from form completion to communication with the State Board.

"They are really underserved, and the communication is just not there," he said. “Some chemicals are dangerous, and nail care professionals just don't know that.”