An open letter to the management of Montañosa Pastoral Resources Corp.
This has reference to my earlier complaint regarding the foul smell coming from a salon that endangers the health of individuals working in the salon itself and clients of a nearby establishment.
As I mentioned earlier, the salon was unwittingly placed beside an obstetrical-gynecological menopause-andropause-anti-aging clinic at the Antipolo Building main along Session Road.
Despite the salon’s management supposed measures of putting an exhaust fan within the establishment, the toxic, pungent, irritating smells still filter through into the clinic when the salon performs rebonding, straightening, curling, and perming hair.
The salon is a dead-end unit, has only one window, and measures three by four feet, which certainly not a large space.
The main Antipolo Building where, is adjacent to another concrete building, the Antipolo annex, and our single windows each, being side by side, the foul smell from the salon will not filter out into open space but be hurled back into my clinic by its exhaust fan.
The staff of the salon also lied when they say they apply the products five meters away from the door.
Also, the salon’s personnel have no venereal disease laboratory or HIV screening tests, which are mandated by law for massage/beauty salons. None of the staff also applied as masseurs, yet they do massage services.
Even if the products they use are Food and Drugs Administration-approved, it is no guarantee these products are safe. The FDA has limited authority over cosmetic products, which unlike drugs, do not require approval before being sold to the market.
Literature is replete with appeals to the FDA to have more teeth in dealing with these salons, as these products cause harm because of the presence of formaldehyde, a pungent-smelling colorless gas, stored as a liquid, quaternary ammonium compounds and so many other harmful compounds.
In October 2010, following an investigation on the health risks that salon workers and customers were being exposed to, the U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration made a report detailing the signs and symptoms, and side effects of exposure which include eye irritation, nose and throat irritation, loss of smell, upper respiratory diseases, dry and sore throat, cough, allergic rhinitis, and the potential to cause cancer.
It is our hope that the management of the building will act on this public health concern and recognizes its error and rectifies it by moving the said salon away from the ObGyn clinic. — DR. MILDRED B. AYSON, Baguio City