Ecobreves – BRAZIL: Hair Stylists Most Exposed to Cancer-Causing Agents

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RIO DE JANEIRO, Sep 30 2006 (IPS) - Hair stylists run the greatest risk of alterations of their DNA and, as a result, of developing cancer, due to their exposure to chemicals like formol and aromatic amines, found in products for straightening or coloring hair, according to a study presented in Sao Paulo. “We are working for early identification of mutations in order to prevent cancer of occupational origin, given that tumors tend to appear 20 to 30 years after exposure (to harmful substances),” the study's author Maira Precivalle Galiotte, a biologist at the University of Sao Paulo medical school, told Tierramérica.

Tests of 80 hair stylists showed damage to their genetic material at double the frequency of 80 women who were not regularly exposed to chemicals in their places of work, according to the study.

Hair salons employ 1.3 million people in Brazil, according to the 2005 census.