Should you stop using gel nail polish? Everything to know about the UK ban

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Last summer, the European Union, which is made up of 27 nations including France, Spain, Italy and more, made headlines when they banned an ingredient called Trimethylbenzoyl Diphenylphosphine Oxide (TPO), which is commonly used in many gel nail polishes. Now, the United Kingdom, a non-EU country, has officially followed suit — as of August 22, TPO is no longer allowed in UK nail salons.

Europe is known for being quite strict when it comes to regulations on beauty products. For example, they don’t allow any animal testing for cosmetics, there is a list of over 1,700 ingredients that are fully banned and marketing claims have to be proven and substantiated by evidence.

If you live in the United States, you won’t be impacted by this ban and gel polish containing TPO will continue to be widely available. Even still, this news may give you pause — if Europe is banning this ingredient, should we be staying away from it, too? To answer that very question, we turned to two dermatologists. But first, read more about this…

Original source: https://www.nbcnews.com/business