rt lattò (Observer
Page 2
Voters Cast Ballots
50 Cent, died Monday in New York
of acute myelogenous leukemia, a
common type of cancer among
adults, but rare among children.
Week ¡n
Review
Oregon Secretary of State Kate
Brown predicted a 72 percent turn­
out of voters in the general election
Tuesday. Mid-term elections see a
bit of a decline from presidential Suspect Cargo on Plane
problem. NASAdecidedearlyTues-
election years. In the presidential U.S. Customs and Border Protec­ day evening to bump liftoff until at
race of 2008, the turnout was 85 tion, the FBI, the Transportation least Thursday.
Security Administration, the Port of
percent.
Portland and Delta Airlines investi­ Ducks No. 1 in BCS
Lion King
gated an incident Tuesday involv­
O re g o n
Actress Dies
ing suspicious items found on a
jumped Au­
S h a n n o n
Delta flight originating in Tokyo,
burn in the
Tavarez, the 11-
Japan. The items were not explo­
BCS stand­
y e a r-o ld who
sive. Passengers and crew members
ings a fte r
starred on Broad­
were being interviewed.
putting the
way in "The Lion
hurt on the
Shuttle
Launch
Delayed
K ing"
and
former Pac-
The
final
launch
of
space
shuttle
w hose b attle
10 top dog USC 53-32 in Los Ange­
Discovery
has
been
delayed
again,
with cancer won the hearts of many,
les last Saturday. For the first time in
including Alicia Keys, Rihanna and this time because of an electrical
www.legacybealtb.org
November 3. 2010
the 115-year history of Oregon's
football program the Ducks are No.
1 in all of the major football polls.
Homeownership Flat
July-September quarter, the Cen­
sus Bureau said Tuesday.
Video Game Law Review
The Supreme Court on Tuesday
expressed sympathy for a California
law that aims to keep children from
buying ultra-violent video games in
which players maim, kill or sexually
assault images of people. But ju s­
tices seem ed clo sely split on
whether the restrictions are consti­
tutional.
The nation's homeownership rate
remained at its lowest in more than Traffic Stop Finds Pot
a decade, hampered by a rise in A Saturday morning traffic stop by
foreclosures and weak demand for Oregon State Police near Medford
housing. The percentage of house­ led to the discovery of approximately
holds that owned their homes was 40 pounds of marijuana and the ar­
unchanged at 66.9 percent in the rest of three people from W ashing­
ton State.
Beauty with a Cost
Hair treatment contains formaldehyde
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To learn more, please attend a free talk in your community.
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ÄTe Pelvic Issues Affecting Y out
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www.legacyhealth.org/classes
M elissa C havez
T he P ortland O bserver
by
Beauty cam e with a cost, ac­
cording to recent findings con­
firming that the popular Brazilian
Blowout hair treatment contains
high doses o f the chemical form ­
aldehyde.
Hundreds o f sam ples o f the
p ro d u ct, w hich salon w orkers
m ust becom e certified to use,
were confiscated by OSHA offi­
cials from dozens o f salons across
the state for testing. Specific sa­
lons were also selected to un­
dergo an air quality test, where
workers perform ed the treatment
while officials gathered air samples
to see what exposure to form al­
dehyde levels occurred.
Though OSHA released its fi­
nal findings confirm ing the un­
safe chemical in the hair treat­
ment on Friday, it had reported
initial concerns in September.
Anette Lucius Halek, a m an­
ager at Toni & Guy in Lloyd
Center, said that after seeing a
local TV report on the product,
the salon emailed their corporate
headquarters.
“W ithin days, they made the
call to take it out o f every (Toni &
Guy) salon across the country,”
she said. “It was actually scary.”
Formaldehyde in any dose can
cause immediate irritation o f eyes,
skin, nose and upper respiratory
tra c t, co u g h , ch est p ain , and
asthm a-like reactions o f short­
ness o f breath and wheezing. If a
product used in a workplace con­
tains more than 0.1 percent form ­
ald eh y d e, O SH A req u ires the
m anufacturer to list it. Findings
for Brazilian Blowout showed that
m ultiple sam ples contained be­
tween 6.3 percent and 10.6 per­
cent o f the chemical.
Halek said one client did have a
reaction to the treatment.
Over the past few weeks, sa­
lon owners across Portland have
been scram bling to reassure cus­
tomers and em ployees about the
safety o f the popular service, while
trying to find out how a product
la b e le d “ f o r m a ld e h y d e - f r e e ”
could contain it.
“My sample came back from
the lab containing 8.5 percent form­
aldehyde,” said Escapade in Holly­
wood owner Doreen Clark. At her
Hollywood neighborhood salon,
she and two other stylists were
certified in the treatment. Typically
costing $250, the 2-hour Brazilian
Blowout gained national attention
after celebrities Halle Berry, Lind­
say Lohan, and Nicole Richie en­
dorsed it. The treatm ent turned
“really curly, coarse, fuzzy, or thick
hair” a straight, super shiny ap­
pearance, said Clark.
“The Brazilian Blowout was
probably more popular than any
other service I’ve offered in here,”
she said. “You could run around
in the rain and it w ould stay
straight. You w ouldn’t have to
even comb it.”
T hough C lark loves the re ­
sults, and even used the treatment
on her own hair, she has had to
turn aw ay clients recently b e­
cause o f the findings.
“I’ve had several say ‘I don’t
care, I want it.’ We have aw e­
some clients. But I don’t care. I’d
rather lose them than kill them ,”
Clark said. “I can’t ethically keep
doing it. M orally, I can ’t keep
using it.”
Despite the confirm ed hazard­
ous findings, salons could still
offer the treatment.
“We don’t actually ban prod­
ucts,” said M elanie M esaros, a
spokesperson with the O regon
D ep artm en t o f C onsum er and
Business Services, which oper­
ates under a state-plan agreement
with federal OSHA. “If you do
use products with hazards, then
you have to take m easures to
protect w orkers.”