Abstract
Many California nail salon workers are low-income Vietnamese women of reproductive age who use nail products daily that contain androgen-disrupting phthalates, which may increase risk of male reproductive tract abnormalities during pregnancy. Yet, few studies have characterized phthalate exposures among this workforce. To characterize individual metabolites and cumulative phthalates exposure among a potentially vulnerable occupational group of nail salon workers, we collected 17 post-shift urine samples from Vietnamese workers at six San Francisco Bay Area nail salons in 2011, which were analyzed for four primary phthalate metabolites: mono-n-butyl-, mono-isobutyl-, mono(2-Ethylhexyl)-, and monoethyl phthalates (MnBP, MiBP, MEHP, and MEP, respectively; μg/L). Phthalate metabolite concentrations and a potency-weighted sum of parent compound daily intake (Σandrogen-disruptor, μg/kg/day) were compared to 203 Asian Americans from the 2011–2012 National Health and Nutritional Examination Survey (NHANES) using Student’s t-test and Wilcoxin signed rank test. Creatinine-corrected MnBP, MiBP, MEHP (μg/g), and cumulative phthalates exposure (Σandrogen-disruptor, μg/kg/day) levels were 2.9 (p < 0.0001), 1.6 (p = 0.015), 2.6 (p < 0.0001), and 2.0 (p < 0.0001) times higher, respectively, in our nail salon worker population compared to NHANES Asian Americans. Levels exceeded the NHANES 95th or 75th percentiles among some workers. This pilot study suggests that nail salon workers are disproportionately exposed to multiple phthalates, a finding that warrants further investigation to assess their potential health significance.
Highlights
All 17 nail salon workers were born in Vietnam and most preferred to speak Vietnamese at home (Table 1)
There was a wide range of hours worked per week at the salon (10–60 h), with a mean of 34.5 h per week, and number of services performed on the day of sampling (1–17 services), with an average of eight services
The most popular ventilation practice was leaving the doors of the salon open
Summary
Recent statements by the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG) and other leading medical societies have called for timely action on reducing chemical exposures that contribute to developmental harm and reproductive health inequities among underserved populations [1,2].As suggested in a commentary on the environmental injustice of the beauty care industry, eliminating harmful compounds in personal care products may provide opportunities for achieving this goal [3].many beauty industry workers are low wage immigrant women of reproductive age, a population highlighted by ACOG as uniquely vulnerable due to their disproportionate environmental exposures and social stressors at and outside of work [1].The U.S nail care industry has expanded rapidly over the last few decades, with active nail technician licenses totaling over 400,000 in 2015 [4] and recent nationwide spending up to $8.5 billion and $768 million on nail care services and nail polish alone [5]. Recent statements by the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG) and other leading medical societies have called for timely action on reducing chemical exposures that contribute to developmental harm and reproductive health inequities among underserved populations [1,2]. As suggested in a commentary on the environmental injustice of the beauty care industry, eliminating harmful compounds in personal care products may provide opportunities for achieving this goal [3]. Many beauty industry workers are low wage immigrant women of reproductive age, a population highlighted by ACOG as uniquely vulnerable due to their disproportionate environmental exposures and social stressors at and outside of work [1]. Just over half of U.S nail salon workers are Vietnamese, most of whom are women of reproductive age [4,6,7]. California has the largest number of manicurists and salons in the country [4,7], in part due to a rise in Vietnamese immigration between 1987 and 2002, which increased the proportion of Vietnamese nail salon workers from 10% to
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