Toxics watchdog group warns against artificial nail set with toxic glue
MANILA, Philippines — A toxics watchdog group cautioned consumers Sunday against an artificial nail kit with a matching adhesive that Romania, a country in Europe, recently banned to protect human health.
In a statement, the EcoWaste Coalition disclosed that the Romanian government has ordered the withdrawal from the market of Xucai, a brand of artificial nail set imported from China that comes with glue containing banned dibutyl phthalate or DBP.
The said brand of artificial nails is also sold locally, the group warned.
According to 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 Thony Dizon, chemical safety campaigner at the EcoWaste Coalition.
“We appeal to manufacturers, importers, distributors and retailers to only offer safe products that will not pose risks to human health and the environment.”
Aside from Xucai, EcoWaste Coalition’s market monitoring shows other artificial nail sets also supplied with the said DBP-containing adhesive and are sold up to P40 per set, including those bearing the names:
- Children Manicure,
- Dudustrong,
- Elegant Touch,
- Fashion,
- Losnaglar,
- Nail Salons,
- Opoola,
- Rose,
- Skeyelinl
- Yazimi
Warnings from Philippine gov't
Last March 12, the Food and Drug Administration issued a public health warning against the purchase and use of the 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."
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