Publications by authors named "Linda Okahara"
Objectives: We engaged Vietnamese nail salon workers in a community-based participatory research (CBPR) study to measure personal and area concentrations of solvents in their workplace.
Methods: We measured average work-shift concentrations of toluene, ethyl acetate, and isopropyl acetate among 80 workers from 20 salons using personal air monitors. We also collected area samples from 3 salons using summa canisters.
Article Synopsis
- Health concerns for cosmetologists and manicurists arise from their daily exposure to products containing carcinogens and endocrine disruptors.
- A study from California examined cancer cases among female cosmetology licensees from 1988-2005, identifying 9,044 cancer cases out of 325,228 workers.
- The overall cancer incidence rates were lower for both cosmetologists and manicurists, but there were notable increases in thyroid cancer for all licensees and lung cancer for manicurists, highlighting the need for more research due to demographic limitations.
In recent decades, the nail salon industry has been one of the fastest growing in the U.S. California has over 300,000 workers licensed to perform nail care services.
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