An Auckland nail salon owner has been ordered to pay $13,500 for using a banned chemical substance to glue acrylic nails onto customer's nails.
A beauty consultant working on a customer's acrylic fingernails (file picture). Photo: 123RF
The owner of the Kiwi Nails & Spa in Silverdale, Quoc Duy Phan, was sentenced by Judge Russell Collins at Auckland District Court today.
In March last year, an Auckland Council environmental health officer visited the salon and found a bottle of KDS Sun Screen Liquid in a cupboard in a back room that contained methyl methacrylate (MMA).
WorkSafe New Zealand also made two visits and found that MMA was being used. Traces of the banned substance were found in the pots at nail workstations.
MMA is low cost, sets quickly and creates a strong hold if used as a bonding agent to attach acrylic nails.
Under the Hazardous Substances and New Organisms Act, MMA is a hazardous substance and is not to be used as a component or ingredient of any cosmetic product.
WorkSafe chief inspector Keith Stewart said customers should ask salon staff if MMA was being used and to not use their services if it was.
He said the solution was probably used because it was low cost, but did not think the problem was widespread.
MMA is known to cause nail damage and irritation of the skin and eyes, and its fumes can cause drowsiness and headaches.