A Toxic Chemical Guessing Game: Fun For Mommy

Okay ladies and gents. I’ve got a list of ingredients along with a teeny tiny blurb from reputable sources.

You pick the product. Yes, I want you to look at the chemicals and try to guess what product they come from.

Butyl Acetate: Oxford University recommends the use of safety glasses
Propyl Acetate: OSHA and the CDC recommend breathing support with this chemical
Ethyl Acetate: From OSHA;

* Signs and symptoms of exposure

1. Acute exposure: Ethyl acetate causes irritation, redness, and tearing of the eyes and irritation of the nose and throat. It is a defatting agent and may cause skin dryness after acute exposure. Sensitization of the lining of the nose may occur with symptoms of inflammation (swelling, runny nose, redness of lining).
2. Chronic exposure: Chronic exposure of the skin to ethyl acetate may cause dermatitis; no other systemic effects have been reported from chronic exposure to ethyl acetate.

Nitrocellulose: OSHA gives it a low toxicity rating but with Gun Cotton being it’s synonym it’s no surprise to find it’s rather explosive.
Isopropyl Alcohol: common, perhaps benign
Polyester Resin: Limited information available, but you can laminate your surfboard with it.
Camphor
Steralkonium Hectorite
Benzaphenone 1
Titanium Dioxide
Red #6
Iron Oxide
Ferric Ammonium
Ferrocyanide Red #7

Are you ready to guess? Do you think you know? After the jump is the big reveal.

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Nail polish.

In fact, these ingredients are listed on Zoya’s “natural” nailpolishes.

Let’s all stop pretending that red nails are pretty. When you see a little girl with her pretty pink fingers do you wonder how much of that lacquer will be ingested? Do you feel like it’s hard to breathe in a nail salon? I won’t preach here, I’ll just supply the information and whisper something in your ear, Greenwashing.

Common sense folks.

Jessica Gottlieb is a freelance writer in Los Angeles, with a special hat tip to Jessica on Twitter who gave me the list of ingredients.

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