The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is thinking about making a rule to stop certain products used for straightening hair. These products, like chemicals for relaxing hair or pressing it, have been connected to health problems. This idea is mentioned in a list of things the FDA plans to do.
The FDA wants to make a rule that would specifically stop hair-straightening stuff that has formaldehyde and other similar chemicals in it.
If this rule is suggested, the FDA will listen to what the public thinks about it. They will read those opinions and decide if they need to do more, said spokesperson Courtney Rhodes on Friday.
The FDA might choose to stop the process of making this rule, or they might suggest a new rule, or they might make a final rule. If they make a final rule, they’ll share it in the Federal Register, which is like a big official announcement.
Scientists have known for a while that using certain hair-straightening products could increase the chances of getting certain types of cancers related to hormones, like ovarian, breast, and uterine cancer. This seems to be more common in Black and Latina women. Research from the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health found that around half of the products advertised to Black women have these chemicals, while only about 7% of products advertised to White women do.
The FDA is expected to suggest that these hair-straightening products can also cause short-term health problems, like skin reactions and trouble breathing. They’ll mention that these chemicals are used in certain beauty products meant to make hair smooth and straight using a combination of chemicals and heat.
In March, two lawmakers named Reps. Ayanna Pressley from Massachusetts and Shontel Brown from Ohio, wrote a letter to Dr. Robert Califf, who leads the FDA. They asked the FDA to really look into these hair-straightening products and see if they have things that can cause cancer and especially increase the risk of uterine cancer.
Both Pressley and Brown are happy about what the FDA is doing, and they want the agency to go ahead and make this ban.
Pressley said that the FDA’s plan to ban these harmful chemicals in hair products is a good thing for public health, especially for Black women. They often face more risk from these products because of racism and unfair attitudes about Black hair.
She added that no matter how we choose to style our hair, we should be able to do it without risking our health. She’s glad the FDA is listening to their request and making a rule that stops companies from making money by risking our health. She also said that the government should make this rule official quickly.
A study from last year in a big medical journal found a link between using hair-straightening products and uterine cancer. They looked at about 34,000 women in the US between 35 and 74 years old. The study saw that women who said they used these products in the last year had a higher chance of getting uterine cancer compared to those who didn’t.
For women who used these products often, the risk of getting uterine cancer by age 70 was about 4%. But for women who didn’t use these products in the last year, the risk was about 1.6%.
A lady in Missouri said in a legal case against L’Oreal and other companies that the chemicals in their hair-straightening stuff gave her uterine cancer. The case was filed last year in Illinois for a lady named Jenny Mitchell from Missouri. She got diagnosed with uterine cancer in 2018 and had to have a full surgery to remove her uterus.
L’Oreal responded by saying they care a lot about their customers’ health and believe their products are safe. They think the lawsuits don’t have a good legal reason. They also said they follow really strict rules to make sure their products are safe in all the places they sell them.
CNN has tried to get a comment from L’Oreal about what the FDA is planning.
Last year, Mitchell remembered getting her hair relaxed when she was about 8 years old, around third grade. She kept using chemicals to straighten her hair from about 2000 until March 2022.
She explained, “Like many young African-American girls, they introduced us to chemical relaxers and straighteners when we were very young. Society has made it seem normal to look a certain way to feel a certain way. I’m speaking out, and I won’t be the last. There will be more people who stand up to these companies and say, ‘No more.'”
CREDIT:CNN