Posted by Deneb on April 1, 2007, at 0:42:17
http://www.hc-sc.gc.ca/ahc-asc/media/advisories-avis/2003/2003_32_e.html
OTTAWA - Health Canada is advising Canadians that the use of the ingredient methyl methacrylate (MMA) in cosmetic nail preparations is unsafe. The strong adhesion properties of MMA can cause painful tearing and possible permanent loss of the natural nail, should the artificial nail be jammed or caught. Allergic reactions to MMA include red skin rashes, contact dermatitis, itching and/or small oozing blisters in the affected area. MMA may also cause irritation to the nose and throat, as well as headaches.
The use of MMA as a cosmetic ingredient poses a risk to the health and safety of consumers. Section 16 of the Food and Drugs Act states that no cosmetic may cause injury to the health of the user.
No cosmetic products containing MMA are to be sold in Canada. However, some cosmetic products containing MMA may still be available on the Canadian marketplace. If you suspect that MMA is being used at your local nail salon, contact your nearest Health Canada Product Safety Office.
MMA is used together with acrylic powder to fill the natural fingernail area and the area on top of the applied nail tip. It is most commonly found in cosmetic nail preparations used at salons performing cosmetic nail services. However, retail nail kits may also contain MMA. Before receiving a nail service at a salon, ask the technician to confirm what material is being used in the nail builder.
Here are some things to look for if you suspect that MMA is being used:
A pungent chemical odour that can cause dizziness or lightheadedness.
Enhancements that are extremely hard and very difficult to file, even with coarse abrasives.
Enhancements that will not soak off in solvents designed to remove acrylics; often the manicurist has to grind the MMA nail down to the real nail.
Low cost of full sets of acrylic nails and of touch-up procedures (nail preparations containing MMA are generally one third the price of safer alternatives).
Unlabelled containers: technician will not show or tell you what brand of product is being used.
Health Canada currently permits the use of ethyl methacrylate (EMA) and other methacrylate polymers as cosmetic ingredients in nail preparations in Canada. You may also use the following alternatives to acrylic nails:Light-cured gels
These products are applied with a small brush, then placed under an ultraviolet light in order for the product to harden. There is no combining of products, so if a salon uses a mixture of liquid and powder, this is not a gel.Wraps
Wrap products include silk, linen and fibreglass. Mesh is applied over the nail or tip, then a resin is brushed over the entire nail. An activator is sometimes used to speed up the set of the resin.
Natural nail manicures
This service does not involve the application of a nail-building product.---------
http://www.montrealmirror.com/ARCHIVES/2002/121902/news4.htmlNail Nausea
Thinking of getting a manicure? You may want to think again.
by NOEMI LOPINTO
Employees in many Montreal nail salons may be working themselves sick. Some manicure salons are using an adhesive known as methyl methacrylate (MMA), which will soon be on Health Canada’s “hot list” of toxic chemicals. It has been linked to fetal deformations and miscarriages, kidney, liver, lung and heart disease as well as a host of other dermatological side effects. There is, however, no law against MMA use in Canada.
MMA is a chemical used to make and line dentures, and prosthetic laboratories use it for constructing or repairing prostheses. It is also used, in liquid or powder form, to create fake nails. Nails made with MMA are very cheap and extremely difficult to remove. If the odour in the salon you visit is extremely strong and fruity-smelling, the nail technicians are all wearing masks and using dental drills (actually used to apply fake nails), then chances are the shop is using MMA. Beware of the unlabelled bottle.
In the 1970s, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) received numerous complaints of serious nail damage or loss, contact dermatitis and organ damage from long-term exposure to MMA. In 1972, the FDA deemed it a “poisonous and deleterious” substance and got a court-ordered injunction prohibiting a particular nail product manufacturer from selling it. They seized MMA products from several manufacturers and asked others to recall it. However, the FDA did not ban it outright. An alternative called ethyl methacrylate (EMA) exists - but at six times the price.
In Canada, there is nothing to prevent a salon owner or a cosmetics distributor from buying products containing MMA. Despite the fact that there appears to be widespread use, Health Canada representative Margot Geguld says they have no records of its purchase by anyone in their cosmetic database.
“No one has notified us that they bought anything with that ingredient,” says Geguld. “There is an alternative, EMA. People should be buying that. Health Canada has never been advised of these ingredients being used here, so if they are being used, it is without our notification.”
Cheap and dangerous
The bond of MMA to the soft tissue of the nail is so strong that even a slight trauma can cause it to separate and lift off the finger. MMA can also be absorbed through even unbroken skin, do permanent damage to the nail’s molecular structure and be further absorbed into the body. It can cause infection and foster the growth of nasty fungi. But it’s cheap and it’s fast: the cost of a gallon of MMA liquid monomer ranges from $9 to $22 (U.S.). The cost of EMA liquid monomer ranges from $219 to $239 (U.S.) per gallon, and takes longer to apply. With the surge in salon growth in the past five years, many owners are buying MMA in bulk from American or Asian distributors.
I went to get my nails done three times at three different salons in the past week. Based on the smell and the type of equipment used, each salon I visited appeared to be using MMA. At salons on Parc, St-Laurent and Mont-Royal, groups of three to five (predominantly) Asian women sat at small white tables, surrounded by nail files, drills and products in small white bottles. The sculpting process goes as follows: the technician takes a large brown paintbrush, dips it into a clear liquid and then dips the wet brush into a small bottle filled with pink powder. The liquid monomer and the powder make a warm, wet plastic lump which the technician carefully shapes into a nail onto a plastic nail extension, which has been glued to your finger. When cured, the acrylic is filed and multiple layers of nail polish are applied as a topcoat. The technicians wear small paper masks over their mouths, but their hands and faces are liberally covered with white powder from filing clients’ acrylic nails. Some salons have a small ventilator whirring at the center of the table, but I did not notice its effectiveness. The stuff really stinks.
A full manicure cost me about $35, a very bad sign, says France Lecuyer, of Distribution France Lecuyer, which sells the gels, powders, resins, acrylics, nail files and acetones that are the required tool kit of any nail technician.
“If it’s fast and cheap, something’s wrong,” says Lecuyer. “A manicure should never take less than an hour-and-a-half, and should never cost less than 60 bucks. This business has seen enormous growth, and there is no law against MMA. I could buy it too if I wanted to. But I would never sell that stuff to my clients. It’s very dangerous, and there is a lot of it out there. The nail technicians of the ’70s - I saw some women develop terrible illnesses.”
Close quarters
Workers apply sculpted nails at very close quarters in order to see the nail properly, usually with their head less than a foot from the client’s hand. They inhale vapours and dust when the nails are being shaped by file or dental drill. Containers of liquid and powdered MMA are left open under their noses. Other chemicals used in nail-sculpting include nail polish, polish remover, acrylic primer, enamel undercoat and topcoats. These may contain solvents such as toluene, isopropryl alcohol, ethyl and butyl acetates, acetone and other ketones. Nail technicians complain of skin rashes, irritation of eyes, nose and throat, drowsiness, dizzy spells, hand-trembling, headaches, decreased sensations of fingers, as well as numbing, prickling, coldness and sometimes pain.
Three weeks ago, Serge Coallier opened Manucure Mont-Royal on the Plateau. He buys his products from companies like OPI, EZ-flow and France Lecuyer - all MMA-free. He says clients should beware of the unlabelled bottle. “People buy their products in bulk from the USA or from Asia,” says Coallier. “It’s incredibly cheap. And then they fill their bottles with MMA. Even if it’s labelled OPI, it might not be safe. I am in this business for fun, but someone who has a lot of bills to pay has to stay competitive. It’s unbelievable what goes on in this business, and no one will talk. I called around, just looking for information to open up a business, and no one would tell me where they bought their products.”
Spiralling health costs
At the price of their health, salaried nail technicians can earn anything from minimum wage to $10 an hour. They may work for themselves or rent a table at a salon. Many are what Nicole Trachy, spokesperson for poverty advocate group Au bas de l’échelle, calls “false autonomous workers.”
“What we find most often is the owner will tell the employee that she is an autonomous worker, but he will tell her when to work and how long,” says Trachy. “She will not have paid holidays, no vacations. He will buy the products she uses and may demand a commission. It’s complete subordination, with no social protection.”
“Kim” works with his wife at a nail salon on Parc. He says the smell used to make him sick when he worked at a larger salon. “All those girls, all the clients make a real bad smell, “ says Kim. “I hated the work, in the beginning. I had terrible headaches. But you have to work, to pay the bills. It’s not a business you’re supposed to stay at for a long time.” :
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Several things were amiss and I didn't say anything.
I thought it was weird that the nail technician filed my natural nails with a drill. I should have said something. Apparently the natural nail is never supposed to be filed down.
I wanted gel nails but the technician used a brush wet with some liquid dipped in a powder. It was not a gel. I now suspect it was MMA (Methyl methacrylate).
What should I do? Should I report them to Health Canada? I feel like I should do the right thing. I can't be 100% sure it was MMA and not EMA (called ethyl methacrylate at 6X the price of MMA), but I highly suspect it was MMA.
I wonder if the nail techs know about the toxic substance they are using? They're exposed to it everyday.
Deneb*
poster:Deneb
thread:745897
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/social/20070322/msgs/745897.html