Some facts about MMA

In recent months, Methyl Methacrylate or MMA has been receiving a healthy interest from the media and the community regarding its use in the nails industry. It is worthwhile examining what MMA is and how it has been used, to clarify the usage and to educate the general public about its health risk. Media sensationalism tends to create many so-called “experts” or “people-who-knows-a-litte-bit” to be dangerous and often paint a very negative picture of an industry that been around for years and years, unfortunately.

The fact is that MMA had been banned in the US within the nails industry for a good few years now but it is not so here in Australia. We do not know personally if anybody still use them these days, but at Manhattan Nails, we have never used them, solely because of the potential health risk to our customers. Beside, MMA omitts a very strong odour which isn’t something we’d like within our premises.

See below, an extract published by the Department of Health, Western Australia in 2006, regarding MMA.

“Over the past few months there has been media and community interest in the use of Methyl methacrylate or MMA in the nail industry. MMA is a bonding agent used in artificial or acrylic nail products and is becoming increasingly popular in cosmetic nail preparations used in nail and beauty salons throughout Australia.

MMA sets much faster and adheres very strongly to the nail more so than other products, and is much cheaper in comparison to other products. However the use of MMA has been associated with adverse health effects.

Industrial use of MMA has been known to cause irritation of the eyes, nose, throat and respiratory tract. Persons repeatedly exposed to significant levels of MMA commonly complain of drowsiness, light headedness, dizzy spells and trembling of the hands. Its use as a nail product may contribute to nail damage and deformities in nail growth. Repeated contact with MMA can also cause allergic skin sensitisation/dermatitis with symptoms such as skin redness, itching, rash and swelling.

While consumers who use products containing MMA may be at risk of suffering adverse health effects, the risk is much higher for nail technicians who are frequently and normally exposed to the products during work activities. MMA is not a banned substance in Australia because it can be used safely.”

The Environmental Health Directorate has also developed a fact sheet on MMA that can be viewed on-line [PDF].