by Ngoc Nguyen

When it comes to nail salon safety, consumers are more likely to fear foot fungus, not the beauty products themselves. That despite the fact that the nail industry uses 10,000 chemicals in its products, 89% of which have not been safety tested by any independent agency, according to a recent report by the National Asian Pacific American Women’s Forum.

That’s got advocates concerned not only for consumers, but nail salon workers.

“We are also very concerned about worker health – typically, women of color, Asian immigrants and Asian American women,” said Felicia Eaves, National Campaigns organizer with Women’s Voices of the Earth. “They spend lots of time, 10 to 14 hours, working with these products. We know that many of these women have health effects, problems with spontaneous abortion and other health problems.”

Eaves’ group helped to found the Campaign for Safe Cosmetics, a coalition of public health, women’s, environmental, and consumer groups and others, whose goal is to push the beauty industry to use safer alternatives. Advocates won a victory with the 2005 passage of California Senate Bill 484, the Safe Cosmetics Act, which for the first time requires manufacturers to disclose to state officials if they used chemicals linked to cancer or birth defects in their products.

Currently, the federal Food and Drug Administration (FDA) does not safety test ingredients used in cosmetic or personal care products before they hit the market. That research is carried out by the industry itself. Consumers are left to sift through the tiny type of ingredients on the back of the bottle. In the past, manufacturers made it even harder by omitting ingredients from labels, claiming the right to protect trade secrets. However, the Safe Cosmetics Act requires reporting all carcinogenic compounds under this category as well.

On the job, nail salon workers come into contact with chemical hazards linked to illnesses, cancers and reproductive harm, including birth defects. The known or suspected carcinogens include phthalates (found in nail polish), formaldehyde, benzene and methylene chloride.

Connie Nguyen, 46, has worked in the beauty business for 10 years. She said she’s had some health problems, including difficulty breathing, skin allergies and occasional dizziness.

“I cannot blame what happened on my work, but I do not have an answer why I got it,” said Nguyen. “Even though, in a salon they do different kinds of work—you don’t necessarily sit down and do acrylic nails, but the chemicals still affect your respiratory system strongly. No doctor could tell me you have these kinds of problems because of the work you do, but personally if you don’t have the answer, you have to think something must cause it.”

Some cosmetic makers dispute a connection between phthalates and reproductive harm, stating that studies have only been carried out on animals. And, the industry claims its phthalate levels fall within FDA limits; however, advocates argue that those levels are too high. The European Union has banned phthalates from all of its cosmetics due to health concerns.

Despite health concerns, the popularity of the nail profession is booming.

The nail industry has tripled in size in the last two decades. The majority of workers are women, and nationally, an estimated 42% are Asian. In California, home to a fifth of the country’s manicurists, an estimated 80 percent are Vietnamese. Of that number, half are of child-bearing age.

The nail trade is fast, easy and cheap to learn, said Nguyen, and doesn’t require a high level of English language skills. More attractive is the earning potential.Nguyen said nail salon workers like herself can typically make $2000-$4000 monthly.

“A lot of Vietnamese who come from Vietnam recently or in the near future, they already have a plan to come here and get the license quickly and get into it,” explained Nguyen. “They are very young, very aggressive and when they come to America and make a few thousand dollars a month, it is very difficult for any organization to tell them ‘you have to think twice.”