-Survey: Vietnamese Nail Salon Workers Report Health Concerns from Workplace Chemicals – Nails Mag
Tuesday, May 20 2008

According to a new survey from the Northern California Cancer Center and Asian Health Services of Oakland that specifically focused on Vietnamese nail salon workers, Vietnamese nail techs suffer from acute health effects associated with the chemicals they use in that work. “Our survey is part of a pilot project designed to characterize Vietnamese nail salon workers in Alameda County, Calif., in order to inform future health interventions and reduce occupational exposures. Nail salon workers are likely to have higher exposures to these compounds than the customers they serve,” said Thu Quach of the Northern California Cancer Center.
“A majority of the workers reported health concerns from exposures to workplace chemicals,” said Dung Nguyen of Asian Health Services who directed the face-to-face interviews with 201 Vietnamese nail salon workers at 74 salons. “Many of them reported having some health problem after they began working in the industry, particularly skin and eye irritation, breathing difficulties, and headaches,” according to Nguyen.
“Our findings highlight a critical need for further investigation into the breast cancer risk of nail salon workers, underscored by the workers’ routine use of carcinogenic and endocrine-disrupting chemicals, their prevalent health concerns about such chemicals, and their high level of acute health problems,” adds Quach, “Moreover, the predominance of Vietnamese immigrant women in this workforce makes it an important target group for further research and health interventions.” The NCCC/AHS partnership has recently been funded by California’s Breast Cancer Research Program to further investigate these concerns.
“A Preliminary Survey of Vietnamese Nail Salon Workers in Alameda County, California” was published on May 14th electronically on SpringerLink and is scheduled to appear in the October print issue of Journal of Community Health.

What do you do when your only source of income is effecting your health? If you go to a doctor, they would probably tell you to quit or work less. But you can’t because you have to work to making a living. I’m totally feeling like that right now. One of my breasts hurts, my eyes have already gotten bad (I got glasses), my skin is gets irritated from time to time, I get sharp pains in my chest/heart, my digestive system gets screwed up (when busy at work, I don’t eat), my back/shoulders/neck are always in pain, and it hurts to breathe sometimes. Too many problems.

My answer: I really need to get my GED and work towards a new career. I need to keep doing nails because I have to keep up with my bills. Living on your is not cheap. And so is working towards a new career. I hate doing nails. I like the money I get from it, but I sacrifice my health for it. Not good.

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