Pet Grooming Workplace Hazards on Female Reproductive Health

Pet grooming practitioners groom in many different locations and business environments such as: commercial grooming shops, pet shops, kennels, veterinarian clinics, mobile grooming vehicles, and in home pet grooming businesses. Pet grooming creates and presents different hazards. Pet grooming services provided from a pet groomers home is not recommended by GROOMOLOGIST®  and pet grooming practitioners educated in the health and safety risk of commercial pet grooming. INTRODUCTION Many factors can affect a woman's reproductive health and her ability to produce healthy children. We know that the health of an unborn child can suffer if a woman fails to eat right, smokes, or drinks alcohol during pregnancy. However, little is known about the pet grooming occupational effects on reproductive health such as infertility, miscarriage, and birth defects. We do know that some grooming workplace hazards can affect a woman's reproductive health, her ability to become pregnant, or the health of her unborn children. We won't attempt to provide all concerns and information below but offer the following questions as a foundation for the need to research reproductive health hazards present in the pet grooming environment for women engaged in the professional practice of pet grooming. What occupational reproductive hazards exist for female pet grooming practitioners? What reproductive problems might be caused by workplace exposures? How are pet grooming practitioners and their babies exposed? What can the family pet be contaminated with, that may expose pet grooming practitioners? How can  pet care practitioner exposures be prevented in a commercial grooming facilities?

Table 1. General Information KNOWN - Disease Causing  agents that are reproductive hazards for women

Agents Observed Effect Potentially Exposed Workers Preventative Measures Cytomegalo- virus (CMV) Birth defects, low birth weight, developmental disorders Health care workers, workers in contact with infants and children Good hygienic practices such as hand washing Hepatitis B virus Low birth weight Health and Grooming Care Workers exposed to Human & Animal Blood & Body Fluids Vaccination Human immuno-deficiency virus (HIV) Low birth weight, childhood cancer Health care  workers Practice universal precautions Human parvovirus B19 Miscarriage Health care workers, workers in contact with infants and children Good hygienic practices such as hand washing Rubella (German measles) Birth defects, low birth weight Health care  workers, workers  in contact with  infants and  children Vaccination before pregnancy if no prior immunity Varicella- zoster virus (chicken pox) Birth defects, low birth weight Health care workers, workers in contact with infants and children Vaccination before pregnancy if no prior immunity

Table 2. Chemical and Physical agents that can present reproductive hazards for  Women in the pet grooming profession.

Strenuous physical labor  Pet grooming can be a strenuous occupation involving lifting, and standing. Animal Waste Fluids Infected animals may carry hazardous diseases, parasites in their feces and fluids. Parasites Exposure to parasites, carriers of diseases  Products Exposure to sanitizing & cleaning solutions, medicated shampoos  Chemicals Pesticides, Fungicides, Herbicides

Table 3. Two examples of Reproductive Zoononic Disease Hazards for Female Pet Grooming Practitioners

Diseases Observed Effect Potentially Exposed Workers Preventative Measures Toxoplas-mosis Miscarriage, birth defects, Child developmental disorders Animal care workers, Pet grooming practitioners, Veterinarians, Techs, etc Exposure tests before pregnancy. Good hygiene sanitation practices. Hepatitis B virus Low birth weight Pet Grooming & Animal Care Workers exposed to Animal Blood & Body Fluids Vaccination

An Increased Health Hazard for Female -  PET GROOMING PRACTITIONERS

Toxoplasmosis Linked to Schizophrenia Risk (May 24, 2005) - Pregnant women with high levels of antibodies to a common parasite, Toxoplasma gondii, run the risk having a child who will develop schizophrenia or a schizophrenia-like disorder in adulthood, new research suggests. Infection with Toxoplasma is widespread. People can pick it up quite easily, especially when cats are around because the animals frequently harbor the parasite. A pregnant woman who contracts toxoplasmosis can pass the parasite on to her unborn baby, with serious consequences. On the other hand, a woman who has had the infection and has become immune cannot pass the organism on to her baby during pregnancy. If the infection is spotted, pregnant women can be treated with anti parasitic drugs to lower the risk to their babies. "Given that toxoplasmosis is a preventable infection," say the authors of the new study, "the findings, if replicated, may have implications for reducing the incidence of schizophrenia." As reported in the American Journal of Psychiatry, Dr. Alan S. Brown, from the New York State Psychiatric Institute in New York, and colleagues, evaluated the link between maternal exposure to Toxoplasma and schizophrenia risk in a large group of people born between 1959 and 1967. They identified 63 people who developed schizophrenia and compared them with 123 similar "controls" without schizophrenia. The researchers tested stored blood samples, obtained from the mothers while they were pregnant, for Toxoplasma antibodies. Antibody levels were classified as negative, moderate, or high. A high Toxoplasma antibody level, indicating heavy infection around the time of pregnancy, more than doubled the likelihood of schizophrenia in the adult offspring. By contrast, moderate levels seemed to have no effect on the risk. "The findings may be explained by reactivated infection or an effect of the antibody on the developing fetus," the researchers conclude. "These findings add to a growing literature suggesting a relationship between in utero exposure to infectious agents that are known to disrupt fetal brain development and the risk of adult schizophrenia," they add. SOURCE: American Journal of Psychiatry, April 2005. Am J Psychiatry 162:767-773, April 2005 © 2005 American Psychiatric Association

Employers are responsible for training and protecting their workers. Workers are responsible for learning about the hazards in their workplace, using personal protective equipment, and following proper work practices. Since little data has been collected or known about reproductive hazards in the pet grooming field, workers should take the following steps to ensure their own safety: Consult and Inform Doctor or Pediatrician before pregnancy about occupation hazards. Store chemicals in labeled and sealed containers when they are not in use. Wash hands after contact with hazardous substances before eating, drinking, or smoking. Avoid skin absorption contact with chemicals. If chemicals contact the skin, follow the directions for found in the Material Safety Data Sheet (MSDS). Employers are required to have copies of MSDSs for all products and materials used in their workplaces and have them readily available for workers. Review all MSDSs to become familiar with any reproductive hazards used in your workplace. If you are concerned about reproductive hazards in the workplace, consult your doctor or health care provider. Participate in all safety and health education, training, and monitoring programs offered by your employer. Learn about proper work practices and engineering controls (such as improved ventilation). Use personal protective equipment (gloves, respirators, and personal protective clothing) to reduce exposures to workplace hazards. Follow your employer's safety and health work practices, procedures and policies to prevent exposures to reproductive hazards. Prevent home contamination with the following steps: — Change out of contaminated work clothing before going home. — Store street clothes in a separate area of the workplace to prevent contamination. — Wash work-clothing separately from other laundry (at work if possible). — Avoid bringing contaminated work clothing or other objects home. If work clothes must be brought home, transport them in a sealed plastic bag. — Relocate an established "in home" pet grooming practice and business to a better location.

Pet grooming facilities in the 21st century provide grooming services to dogs of many different lifestyles. Dogs that have contact exposures to many  products in different environments. Dogs are more than companion animals offering security and comfort to pet owners. Some  dogs owned as pets that are groomed by pet grooming practitioners also work as ranches and farm hands, others serve as, search and rescue animals, others serve as members of  local law enforcement, and still others are honorable veterans of our nations military. Some are exposed to environmental hazards that  require special precautions during handling grooming and hygiene tasks. Even some less active family dogs are likely to come in to contact with environmental agents in a families back yard. Lawn treatment products, and wild animal and domestic cats leave  hazardous waste products behind. All increase commercial pet grooming practitioners exposures to heath and reproductive hazards daily. Grooming pets can no longer be thought of as just a beauty enhancement process, but a science study needed to protect the health of the practitioner as well as the pet and family. Commercial handling, grooming and hygiene care of dogs, challenges pet grooming practitioners to become better educated about these hazards; occupational hazards previously overlooked as occupational health risks.

GROOMOLOGIST® of YUPPIE PUPPY STUDIOSsm - continue to educate its employees and pet owners about the Art, Science, Health and Safety of professional pet grooming, through its GROOMOLOGY® educational classes and pet grooming and hygiene care services.

Back to Previous Page

Updated Jan 2008

Copyright © 2006 - 2008 Yuppie Puppy Studios - L. Richard Neely, All Rights Reserved