California Finding Many Nail Products Claiming Toxin-Free, But Lab Tests Showing Otherwise

There has been a lot of attention given lately about toxic chemicals in nail polishes, especially those known the toxic trio – toluene, formaldehyde, and dibutyl phthalate (DBP). Many nail product manufacturers have either reformulated their products to remove these chemicals or just stopped making them altogether.

Image by Christy Thompson at Shutterstock.com.

Other manufacturers have only claimed to reformulate their products, but an investigative report done by the California Department of Toxic Substance Control (DTSC) found that, “Some of the toxic-free products actually contained higher levels of DBP or toluene than products which made no toxic-free claims.”

Deborah Raphael, director of the DTSC, said in a letter that the tests revealed that “most of the surveyed products were not free – as claimed – of toluene, which is restricted in cosmetics sold in the European Union. Most of the tests on the products that made the claims (of being toxic-free), in fact, revealed high concentrations of toluene, which may be harmful to women of child-bearing age.”

“DBP, which is banned from cosmetics in the EU, was also present in some products, one of which claimed to be DBP-free. Both toluene and DBP are listed as known to the State of California to cause reproductive toxicity,” added Raphael.

Regarding the toxic-trio, the report said that, “California has recognized that exposure to these chemicals is associated with cancer, birth defects, asthma, and other chronic health conditions.”

To obtain the data, the DTSC randomly sampled 25 nail care products from six different San Francisco Bay Area locations.

Twelve of the sampled products claimed to be free of at least one of the toxic-trio chemicals. However, the report found that 10 of these 12 products did contain toluene, and four of the 12 contained DBP.

“Toluene was found more frequently, and in higher concentrations in products with toxic-trio related claims than in traditional products,” said the report.

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