On April 10th 2012, Department of Toxic Substances Control (DTSC) of California Environmental Agency revealed that many nail salons in California were found to be selling nail products that contained dangerous chemicals, such as dibutyl phthalate and toluene. 

Dibutyl phthalate was legally prohibited from cosmetics in Europe in 2003, and claimed to be removed by many nail polishing companies in U.S. However recent DTSC tests of such brands as Sation, Dare to Wear, Chelsea, New York Summer, Paris Spicy, Sunshine, Cacie and Golden Girl have shown that their products still contain high amount of mentioned chemicals.

What angers me the most in this situation is that those companies not only put the health of their customers in danger, but also they had the conscience to lie to their customers by labeling their products toxic-free. The impacts of such irresponsible behavior are reflected not only in increasing birth defects, asthma and other chronic health problems in salon workers and customers, but also reflected badly on those nail polish manufacturers, like OPI, that actually followed the safety regulations. The obvious question arises: who should we rely on?

Along with some other questions such as: what role does government play in protecting public safety? And who should be responsible for enforcing regulations that will protect people’s health? Should it be agencies like FDA or even customers themselves?

For more information please visit the article on EcoWatch.org: http://ecowatch.org/2012/the-latest-cosmetics-scandal-toxic-nail-polish/

Video and online DTSC report can be found here