California to Require SDS Translation for Cosmetics and Disinfectants

Written By: Atanu Das on Sunday, March 1, 2020

If a separate Safety Data Sheet based on color or tint exists, the bill would require the entity to post and translate each SDS. The bill requires the entity to translate the SDS into Spanish, Vietnamese, Chinese, and Korean, and other languages that the director may determine are common to the beauty care industry, and to make these translations also publicly available on its website.

The bill was passed in response to efforts by the California Healthy Nail Salon Collaborative, an advocacy group seeking to educate and otherwise empower the mostly female, Vietnamese immigrant and refugee workforce typically employed in nail salons and other beauty care workplaces. 

From their website:

The Collaborative emerged in direct response to an increasing concern of nail salon workers who exhibited serious health issues such as chronic asthma, skin rashes, and reproductive health issues.

Research on nail salon products revealed a widespread yet overlooked epidemic: manicurists working up to 70 hours per week were being exposed to toxic chemicals found in nail products they used to pamper clients on a daily basis.

In California, 69% of over 400,000 licensed manicurists and cosmetologists are Vietnamese, and most of them are low-income women workers of reproductive age. 

Manicurists that are pregnant or want to become pregnant are at a greater risk for complications such as gestational diabetes or miscarriages.

Source: A Brief Overview of Health and Safety Issues in the Nail Salons (Nail Files: A Study of Nail Salon Workers and Industry in the United States 2018)