Achieving Social Justice for Nail Salon Workers: A Case Study of Implementing Local City Policy to Impact Worker Health

Nail salon and cosmetology workers handle on a daily basis solvents, chemical solutions, glues, and cosmetic products that contain chemicals known to be carcinogenic and suspected to cause reproductive harm. While studies suggest an elevated prevalence of acute health effects among nail salon workers, such as musculoskeletal disorders, respiratory symptoms, skin problems and headaches, compared to the general population, long-term concerns related to cancer and reproductive impacts have burgeoned given the chronic exposure of these workers to toxic chemicals. To prevent long-term health impacts and address the root causes of the health impacts experienced by nail salon workers, a significant number who are low-income Vietnamese immigrant women of reproductive age, the California Healthy Nail Salon Collaborative, in partnership with its member Asian Law Caucus and Environment California, launched a citywide campaign with San Francisco policymakers focused on banning three chemicals of greatest concern from nail care products--formaldehyde, toluene, and dibutyl phthalate. The campaign's purpose is to catalyze system changes that impel the cosmetics industry to manufacture safer products in order to reduce the burden of toxics on workers, build greater awareness about healthier and safer workplace practices and products, and empower the nail salon community to advocate for solutions that positively impact their health. This session will describe the lessons learned from the policy campaign to address the systematic and institutional power inequalities that contribute to the social injustices faced by nail salon workers in order to assure the right of these workers to safe and healthy workplace conditions.