Nail polish: Which ingredients have a harmful effect - and can even make you infertile

Created: 02/12/2022, 06:30

By: Juliane Gutmann

Painting the nails: a regular ritual for many women and men.

Whether a nail polish is potentially harmful to health depends on the ingredients.

In drugstores and perfumeries, they line entire shelves: nail polishes in all imaginable colors.

Almost every cosmetic brand offers its own color creations - some with harmful ingredients.

It is true that nail polishes have been further developed since their invention at the beginning of the 20th century.

But there are still products that can harm the body.

Although not to the same extent as in the past: Commercial nail polish was launched in the 1930s as a product based on car paint.

Again and again, researchers deal with the health effects of decorative cosmetics such as make-up, lipstick and nail polish.

A US study found that nail polish ingredients and fumes can even alter DNA and promote infertility in women.

Can't live without nail polish?

Then you should better use products without harmful ingredients.

© Alba Caro/Imago

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TPHP: Dangerous plasticizer in nail polish

Among other things, the plasticizer triphenyl phosphate (TPP or TPHP) in nail polish is harmful to health.

This substance is also used in the manufacture of plastic.

In nail polishes, TPHP ensures a longer hold, but is considered to have a potentially hormonal effect.

"It is very concerning that nail polish marketed to teenage women and girls contains a putative endocrine disruptor," Johanna Congleton, a co-author of the US study from Duke University and the non-profit organization EWG, said in a press release quoted.

According to Congleton, the body absorbs TPHP relatively quickly by applying nail polish to the fingernails.

Ten nail polishes were tested as part of the study, TPHP was found in eight of them.

However, two of the eight paints that contained TPHP did not list the ingredient on their label.

The study further states that TPHP caused reproductive and developmental problems in animal studies.

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Commenting on the human health hazard, Heather Stapleton, principal investigator of the Duke-EWG study, said: "There is increasing evidence that TPHP may impair hormone regulation, metabolism, reproduction and development."

Further scientific research would also suggest that TPHP may contribute to weight gain and obesity.

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It may contain carcinogenic and allergenic substances

But not only the substance TPHP is considered potentially harmful.

"Öko-Test criticizes a whole list of problematic ingredients," Kerstin Effers, chemist and expert for environmental and health protection at the

center, is quoted as saying by the

network Germany.

According to Effers, the solvent styrene or allergenic substances such as acrylates or triphenyl phosphate as well as carcinogenic nitrosamines are also harmful nail polish ingredients.

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It is worth checking the ingredients before buying nail polish.

Apps can also be of great help here.

For example, the Codecheck, Yuka or Cosmile apps show whether decorative cosmetics contain questionable ingredients.