What’s Going to Kill Us Next? It Could Be Your Nail Salon
It probably won't be, but it could be your nail salon.
Remember when the hole in the ozone was going to kill us so they banned CFCs?
Remember when real butter was going to kill us so they started pushing margarine?
Remember when regular vegetable oil was going to kill us so they started pushing coconut oil?
Remember when they told us that cigarette smoking was good for us?
Remember when they told us that chewing tobacco was a great substitute for smoking?
Well, scientists sometimes get it wrong, but that's just the nature of the game, I guess.
That leads us to our next "the sky is falling" story: death by nail salon.
Am I being a little dramatic here? I'd admit that I am but I will also admit that I am trying to let you know about a danger that might exist so that you can make up your own mind. Here goes:
A new study published by the website Nature.com shows that nail polish "dryers" could be a catalyst for cancer in the human body.
Some of the nail dryers at nail salons use UV (ultraviolet light) technology to cure the nail polish after being applied.
Ultraviolet A light is commonly emitted by UV-nail polish dryers with recent reports suggesting that long-term use may increase the risk for developing skin cancer. - Nature
What else uses UV technology? Tanning beds. And what did they tell us about tanning beds? That they were going to kill us.
Nature says that the radiation coming from those UV nail dryers can alter one's DNA, and also do other stuff with big words. Here, allow me to quote the story:
...radiation emitted by UV-nail polish dryers can both damage DNA and permanently engrave mutations on the genomes of primary mouse embryonic fibroblasts, human foreskin fibroblasts, and human epidermal keratinocytes. - Nature
(I don't know why they have human foreskin fibroblasts in the nail dryer but, hey, you do you.)
So, in lab testing, the UV rays emitted by the UV nail dryers appear to have damaged human and rodent parts.
The story from CNN puts the results of the study into layman's terms for us.
Researchers exposed cells from humans and mice to UV light, finding that a 20-minute session led to 20% to 30% of cells dying. Three consecutive 20-minute exposures made 65% to 70% of the exposed cells die. The remaining cells experienced mitochondrial and DNA damage, resulting in mutations with patterns that have been observed in skin cancer in humans. - CNN
So, there you have it: the sky is falling, again.
Everything in moderation should be the mantra, I guess.