Recently, the European Union banned a key ingredient used in manufacturing gel nail polishes. Now, nail technicians across the continent have been ordered to dispose of these polishes and are no longer allowed to use them on clientele. However, in the United States, this ingredient remains legal and continues to be used in our nail polishes.
Trimethylbenzoyl diphenylphosphine oxide, commonly known as TPO, was banned due to its being “carcinogenic” or harmful to reproduction.
According to PBS, “A chemical is banned by the EU as a precaution if it potentially causes cancer, damages DNA and/or adversely affects the reproductive, regardless of whether it has been put through a risk assessment.”
U.S. Department of Health and Human Services spokesperson Andrew Nixon told CNN in an interview that the EU was taking a “proactive” approach to restrict and ban chemicals identified to cause health problems.
“The U.S. FDA approach is more just wait and see if anything bad happens,” said Nixon.
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has not taken the initiative to inspect the chemical banned in nail polish, even though there could be a correlation to harming the reproductive health of women. A factor of this could be the declining research on women’s reproductive studies and health nationally.
According to the Population Reference Bureau, women in the United States live longer than men, but with more disability, including a shorter average lifespan than in other high-income countries.
“Increased rates of suicide and homicide, and a lack of access to health care services like safe abortion, have the combined effect of reversing the health and safety gains women of previous generations experienced, especially women of color,” said Diana Elliott, a coauthor of the PRB report.
To make matters worse, only 7% of all healthcare research is solely focused on women’s health. According to Kearney, conditions such as migraines, which affect both men and women, are treated based on male-centric data without considering a drug’s unique impact on women.
Women’s health and research in America face constant threats of defunding within the National Institutes of Health. This year, major projects that develop cancer research for women had their cash flows gutted.
According to the American Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology, “Despite a 58.7% increase in the total NIH budget between 2013 and 2023, funding for WHR decreased from 9.7% to 7.9% of the agency’s total budget during the same period.”
With this in mind, we face the problem of nail polish in America. With women undergoing rapid health declines and limited research being done to acquire additional solutions, it’s no surprise that the FDA will wait until there is suggestive evidence that TPO is harmful beyond animal testing, even though the EU is certain it is harmful to all.
While there may not be a direct correlation between women’s health research in America and the lack of FDA control for American products primarily used by women, the question remains: Can we be proactive about choices, even in seemingly minor items like nail polishes, to prevent lasting effects on women?
“Girls, women, families, society, and the economy all pay a price for the gaps in knowledge about women’s health,” the PRB report authors wrote. “Addressing these needs will require more than increased funding for women’s health research; it will require dedicated action, careful prioritization, and oversight to ensure objectives are achieved.”