A Pilot Biomonitoring Study of Cumulative Phthalates Exposure among Vietnamese American Nail Salon Workers

Julia R. Varshavsky, Rachel Morello-Frosch, Suhash Harwani, Martin Snider, Syrago-Styliani E. Petropoulou, June-Soo Park, Myrto Petreas, Peggy Reynolds, Tuan Nguyen and Thu Quach
Additional contact information
Julia R. Varshavsky: School of Public Health, University of California, Berkeley, CA 94720, USA
Rachel Morello-Frosch: School of Public Health, University of California, Berkeley, CA 94720, USA
Suhash Harwani: Environmental Chemistry Laboratory, California Department of Toxic Substances Control, Berkeley, CA 94720, USA
Martin Snider: Environmental Chemistry Laboratory, California Department of Toxic Substances Control, Berkeley, CA 94720, USA
Syrago-Styliani E. Petropoulou: Environmental Chemistry Laboratory, California Department of Toxic Substances Control, Berkeley, CA 94720, USA
June-Soo Park: Environmental Chemistry Laboratory, California Department of Toxic Substances Control, Berkeley, CA 94720, USA
Myrto Petreas: Environmental Chemistry Laboratory, California Department of Toxic Substances Control, Berkeley, CA 94720, USA
Peggy Reynolds: Cancer Prevention Institute of California, Berkeley, CA 94720, USA
Tuan Nguyen: State Compensation Insurance Fund, Safety and Health Services, Santa Ana, CA 92705, USA
Thu Quach: Cancer Prevention Institute of California, Berkeley, CA 94720, USA

IJERPH, 2020, vol. 17, issue 1, 1-15

Abstract: Many California nail salon workers are low-income Vietnamese women of reproductive age who use nail products daily that contain androgen-disrupting phthalates, which may increase risk of male reproductive tract abnormalities during pregnancy. Yet, few studies have characterized phthalate exposures among this workforce. To characterize individual metabolites and cumulative phthalates exposure among a potentially vulnerable occupational group of nail salon workers, we collected 17 post-shift urine samples from Vietnamese workers at six San Francisco Bay Area nail salons in 2011, which were analyzed for four primary phthalate metabolites: mono- n -butyl-, mono-isobutyl-, mono(2-Ethylhexyl)-, and monoethyl phthalates (MnBP, MiBP, MEHP, and MEP, respectively; μg/L). Phthalate metabolite concentrations and a potency-weighted sum of parent compound daily intake (Σandrogen-disruptor, μg/kg/day) were compared to 203 Asian Americans from the 2011–2012 National Health and Nutritional Examination Survey (NHANES) using Student’s t -test and Wilcoxin signed rank test. Creatinine-corrected MnBP, MiBP, MEHP (μg/g), and cumulative phthalates exposure (Σandrogen-disruptor, μg/kg/day) levels were 2.9 ( p < 0.0001), 1.6 ( p = 0.015), 2.6 ( p < 0.0001), and 2.0 ( p < 0.0001) times higher, respectively, in our nail salon worker population compared to NHANES Asian Americans. Levels exceeded the NHANES 95th or 75th percentiles among some workers. This pilot study suggests that nail salon workers are disproportionately exposed to multiple phthalates, a finding that warrants further investigation to assess their potential health significance.

Keywords: endocrine disrupting chemicals; exposure disparities; nail polish; occupational health; reproductive health; personal care products (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2020
References: View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/17/1/325/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/17/1/325/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:17:y:2020:i:1:p:325-:d:304607

Access Statistics for this article

IJERPH is currently edited by Ms. Jenna Liu

More articles in IJERPH from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().