UMass-Lowell institute launches initiative to improve health and safety in nail salons

When it comes to dangerous jobs, nail salon worker probably doesn't come immediately to mind. But according to the Toxic Use Reduction Institute at the University of Massachusetts at Lowell, nail polishes, removers, and adhesives for artificial nails contain chemicals that, with prolonged exposure, may cause skin irritation, respiratory problems, and possibly even miscarriages.

That is why the institute is leading the ''Vietnamese Healthy Nail Salon Initiative," which began in 2003 and is one of several institute-backed projects that will be presented to lawmakers at a State House event next Thursday. The institute began by surveying the health of nail salon workers, focusing on Dorchester due to the high concentration of nail salons operated by members of the neighborhood's large Vietnamese community.

''In this kind of job, we sit here all day, up to 10 hours. A lot of people have allergies, and to sit and breathe in those chemicals isn't healthy," said Tram Vu, who owns the Nail Box salon in Cambridge and whose two employees live in Dorchester. Vu helped the institute test less toxic nail polish and polish remover. ''I wanted to try something, anything different and better. Good for me and for other people, my employees, and my customers," she explained.

According to the trade publication Nails Magazine, the number of nail salons in Massachusetts tripled between 1993 and 2003 to more than 1,300.

Getting salons to participate was tough, said Tam Doan, a project manager for New Ecology, a Cambridge nonprofit that is working on the project along with Dorchester's Viet-AID, because owners worried about stigmatizing their businesses as unhealthy.

''The way we approached salon owners about it is, here's a chance to distinguish yourself in the market as a healthier business," said Doan. ''We wanted owners who participate to know that they'll be considered leaders."

Doan said data from the initial product evaluations hasn't yet been fully analyzed, but preliminary results are that some less toxic products work well but have premium price tags. Initiative organizers are planning an advocacy campaign aimed at increasing consumer demand for the less toxic nail products, possibly for early next year, hoping to spur production by cosmetics companies and thereby lower prices. In the meantime, they also plan to help salon owners raise money to improve ventilation in their shops.

CHRIS BERDIK