The Food and Drug Administration is proposing a ban on using formaldehyde as an ingredient in hair relaxers, an enormous step in raising awareness concerning the potential harms such products create for the various Black women who typically use them.
The proposed rule would ban the chemical in hair-smoothing or hair-straightening products, also called relaxers. The FDA currently discourages consumers from using hair-straightening products that contain formaldehyde and similar ingredients, based on a fact sheet from the agency.
The FDA didn’t immediately reply to a request for comment.
Formaldehyde is a colorless, flammable gas that is utilized in a wide selection of household products, including medicines and cosmetics, based on the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. It’s highly toxic, and repeated exposure can irritate the eyes, skin, lungs and throat. It is usually linked to certain cancers, including myeloid leukemia, a cancer that happens within the blood and bone marrow, based on the National Cancer Institute.
Even products that do not contain formaldehyde as a predominant ingredient may contain other ingredients that, when heated, might be converted into formaldehyde, comparable to methylene glycol, which is present in some hair-straightening products. Some soaps, shampoos, lotions and cleansing products contain formalin, which is formaldehyde dissolved in water.
The present law doesn’t require the FDA to approve cosmetic products and ingredients before they go on the market — only color additives, based on the agency’s website. Firms and other people selling products have a obligation to make sure the security of their products, the agency says, but federal law and regulations don’t require firms to share their safety information with the FDA.
Research in recent times has helped raise awareness concerning the potential dangers of using chemical hair relaxers. A study published last yr by the National Institutes of Health found that girls who used hair-straightening chemicals greater than 4 times within the previous yr were greater than twice as likely to develop uterine cancer in comparison with those that didn’t use the products. While the study didn’t collect details about specific brands or ingredients utilized by the participants, the researchers noted that formaldehyde, parabens and other ingredients present in chemical hair straighteners may contribute to the increased risk of uterine cancer.
Additional research published this month by Boston University’s Black Women’s Health Study — a long-running study, launched in 1995, that tracks the health of 59,000 Black women — found that postmenopausal Black women who used chemical hair straighteners long run had a better risk of developing uterine cancer. The study was designed to emphasise the risks of chemical hair straighteners and help discover safer alternatives, said the study’s lead creator, Kimberly Bertrand, an associate professor of drugs at Boston University School of Medicine.
“We all know that these products are very poorly regulated by the federal government when it comes to what goes in there,” Bertrand said. “You possibly can’t have a look at an ingredient label and know that it incorporates these endocrine disruptors. They do not list phthalates and parabens on the box — they are saying fragrance and preservative. So women don’t really know what they’re being exposed to.”
Endocrine disruptors are sometimes present in chemical hair straighteners and might be absorbed into the body when the product is placed on the scalp, Bertrand said. The chemicals can interfere with the body’s endocrine, or hormone, system, and so they are linked to early onset of puberty, fibroid tumors and infertility, she said.
A further study published by the American Journal of Epidemiology in March found that current and former use of chemical hair straighteners was associated with lower fertility in women.
Several Black women have sued Revlon, L’Oréal and other cosmetic brands inside the past yr, alleging that the businesses’ hair-straightening products caused them to develop uterine cancer, breast cancer and other health complications. In other cases, women also claimed the products caused infertility.
The FDA’s proposed ban comes months after Reps. Ayanna Pressley, D-Mass., and Shontel Brown, D-Ohio, wrote an open letter in March asking the federal agency to analyze to find out whether chemical hair straighteners contain carcinogens that result in a better risk of developing uterine cancer. Many Black women use such hair-straightening products to adapt to societal standards consequently of anti-Black hair sentiment, the letter said.
Along with the FDA’s proposed ban, Pressley and other advocates have pushed for policies just like the Making a Respectful and Open World for Natural Hair, referred to as the CROWN Act, which prohibits employment and academic discrimination based on hair texture. Because the U.S. House passed the bill in March 2022, greater than 20 states have followed suit, including Texas, where a Black teenager was suspended this yr after school officials said his dreadlocks violated the district’s dress code.
The goal date for the FDA’s proposed ban is April.