Topline
The Food and Drug Administration plans to recommend a ban on formaldehyde in hair-straightening products after years of research suggests the chemical may cause hormone-related cancers, like breast, uterine and ovarian cancer.
Key Facts
The FDA’s proposal to ban on formaldehyde and other formaldehyde-releasing chemicals like methylene glycol in straightening products—which is aimed to go into effect in April 2024—is due to a link with “long-term adverse health effects,” according to a government entry.
Popular straightening products like chemical relaxers and blowout treatments are more commonly used among Black women than any other community: The Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health found 50% of hair products targeted to Black women contain these toxic chemicals while only 7% of hair products advertised to white women contain them.
Rep. Ayanna Pressley (D-Ma.) and Rep. Shontel Brown (D-Ohio) wrote a letter to FDA commissioner Robert Califf in March requesting the agency conduct a “thorough and transparent investigation” into whether these products pose an increased risk of developing uterine cancer.
The Environmental Working Group, a nonprofit advocacy organization, petitioned the FDA in 2011 and 2021 to ban hair-straightening products that contain formaldehyde in order to protect “professional stylists and their clients.”
The FDA began warning the public about the health hazards formaldehyde poses after receiving an influx of inquiries and reports about the safety of hair-straighteners during the early 2000’s.
Crucial Quote
“The FDA’s proposal to ban these harmful chemicals in hair straighteners and relaxers is a win for public health—especially the health of Black women who are disproportionately put at risk by these products as a result of systemic racism and anti-Black hair sentiment,” Pressley said in a press release.
Key Background
The International Agency for Research on Cancer said formaldehyde is “carcinogenic to humans,” based on previous research. When used in hair-straightening products, the chemical has been linked to uterine, ovarian and breast cancer, which disproportionately affects women. The risk of developing uterine cancer went up to 4.05% in women who regularly use chemical hair-straighteners, while the risk is 1.64% in those who don’t, according to research by the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences. A Missouri woman filed a lawsuit against L’Oreal and other companies in 2022, claiming the prolonged exposure to chemicals like formaldehyde in their hair products caused her to develop uterine cancer, though L’Oreal said in a statement the lawsuit has “no legal merit.” Frequent use of chemical hair-straighteners over the course of a year were associated with an increased risk of 2.19% of developing ovarian cancer, a study published in Carcinogenesis reports. Chemical hair-straighteners were associated with an 18% risk of developing breast cancer among Black and white women, though Black women were 74% likely to use them while white women were just 3% likely, according to a 2019 study published in the International Journal of Cancer. Black women are more likely to die from breast cancer than any other race of women.
Tangent
Short-term exposure to formaldehyde can cause skin, lung, nose, throat and eye irritation, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reports. High levels of exposure can even lead to wheezing, coughing, chest pain or bronchitis. Ingesting formaldehyde may cause inflammation and ulceration of the mouth, esophagus and stomach, and corrosion of the gastrointestinal tract.
Surprising Fact
Formaldehyde is also a chemical used in embalming fluid, and embalmers have been known to have high rates of leukemia, brain cancer and other rare cancers, according to research published in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute.
What We Don’t Know
Why the ban wasn’t initiated sooner. According to the New York Times, FDA lawyers began drafting a proposed ban in 2016, but stopped a few months later, without any explanation.
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