Air quality to be tested at New York City nail salons

NEW YORK -- Air quality sensors will be installed in some New York City nail salons to monitor for hazardous health conditions.

Public Advocate Letitia James said Tuesday a pilot program will begin in January 2016.

James says salons can volunteer to be part of the program that installs a small sensor chip in a lamp.

The lamp will test air quality and feed the information to health officials for monitoring.

The prototype will be free to businesses. About 30 salons are expected to take part in the pilot.

The program comes after James' office released a report in September 2014 identifying dangerous health conditions in city nail salons.

Officials say chemicals used by the salons can cause eye and lung irritation, kidney damage or birth defects.