Group warns vs artificial nail kits with toxic glue
BEWARE of using an artificial nail kit with a matching adhesive as it may pose risks to human health.
Thus the environment-advocate group EcoWaste Coalition warned the public as it said product with a brand name Xucai, imported from China was already banned in Romania since it comes with glue containing banned dibutyl phthalate (DBP).
Thony Dizon, the group’s chemical safety campaigner, said that based on the Romanian advisory as published in the European Union Rapid Alert System for dangerous non-food products, the DBP on the nail glue “may harm the health, causing possible damage to the reproductive system or the unborn child.”
“We remind consumers to be cautious when purchasing cosmetic products, especially items lacking market authorization such as artificial nails that are supplied with glue containing toxic DBP,” said Dizon.
“We appeal to manufacturers, importers, distributors and retailers to only offer safe products that will not pose risks to human health and the environment,” Dizon added.
Aside from Xucai, the group’s market monitoring showed that artificial nail sets bearing the names Children Manicure, Dudustrong, Elegant Touch, Fashion, Losnaglar, Nail Salons, Opoola, Rose, Skeyelinl and Yazimi are also supplied with the said DBP-containing adhesive and are sold up to P40 per set.
Last March 12, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) issued a public health warning against the purchase and use of the said unauthorized nail adhesive for artificial nails that lacks a valid certificate of product notification.
As per Advisory 2021-0541, “since the abovementioned unauthorized cosmetic product has not gone through the notification process of the FDA, the agency cannot assure their quality and safety. The use of such violative product may pose health risks to consumers.”
In another advisory, the FDA warned that the said nail adhesive, which lists DBP among its ingredients, “has the ability to cause allergic reactions.”
According to Advisory 2015-006, “there were previous cases where allergic response to DBP was found to be severe,” saying that “allergic reactions can induce a state of hypersensitivity in the immune system.”
“It can cause the immune system to respond to chemical exposures with immunological reactions that are harmful, varying from hives to life threatening responses such as anaphylactic shock, where low blood pressure and breathing difficulties can result in death,” the advisory read.
DBP is a banned ingredient as per Annex II, Part I of the ASEAN Cosmetic Directive, which provides a list of substances that “must not form part of the composition of cosmetic products.”
