FDA Plans to Ban Hair Straighteners Containing Formaldehyde

These products, often marketed to black women, have been linked to an increased risk of uterine cancer.

The Food and Drug Administration has proposed banning hair straightening products that contain or emit formaldehyde, more than a decade after cosmetic industry experts declared such products unsafe.

Frequent use of chemical straighteners has been linked to a possible increased risk of developing uterine cancer, also called endometrial cancer. Women who use these products often have twice the risk of those who don't.

Other studies have linked straighteners and dyes for hair and breast and ovarian cancer. The agency's scientists considered formaldehyde a human carcinogen seven years ago, and its lawyers began drafting a proposed ban.

Workers like embalmers who are exposed to high levels of formaldehyde. have higher rates of myeloid leukemia and other rare cancers. The F.D.A. warns that immediate reactions may include eye and throat irritation, coughing, wheezing, or chest pain. Chronic or long-term problems include frequent headaches, asthma, skin irritations and allergic reactions.

Hair straightening products are marketed largely among black women. While rates of uterine cancer have increased among all women in recent years, the increase has been greatest among women of color, including Asian and Hispanic women.

The agency's proposed rule would ban formaldehyde and other formaldehyde-releasing chemicals in hair straightening and straightening products marketed in the United States. The target date for the ban is April 2024.

Some treatments, including so-called keratin treatments, claim to be formaldehyde-free but contain a substance called methylene glycol, which turns into formaldehyde gas after being in contact with air. (Scientists consider methylene glycol simply as formaldehyde in a solution.)

The FDA. has always had the power to ban a specific ingredient like formaldehyde, and has removed a dozen ingredients, including mercury compounds, from cosmetics.

But the industry remained largely unregulated. until last year, when Congress gave the F.D.A. supervisory authority. The action, however, was not linked to the new authority, the F.D.A. said.

Expanded oversight does not mean that new products will generally be subject to review by the agency before being marketed to the public. But manufacturers of shampoo, nail polish, makeup and other items are now required to register their manufacturing sites with the F.D.A., and they are required to disclose ingredients on packaging.

The FDA can also issue a mandatory recall of a cosmetic product in the event of a serious health problem or death.

The controversy on formaldehyde present in hair straighteners has persisted for years. The Environmental Working Group, an advocacy organization, petitioned the agency in 2011 and again in 2021 to ban hair products containing formaldehyde.

F.D.A. lawyers began drafting the rules for a proposed ban in 2016. But the process stopped abruptly a few months later, and no explanation was given.

"The F.D.A. “We've known for decades that these products are dangerous,” said Melanie Benesh, vice president for government affairs at the Environmental Working Group. "There's no reason they couldn't have acted sooner."

"This is the first public indication we've seen that They are considering banning this in hair straightening products," Ms. Benesh added. The products pose a real risk of harm, she said, both for hairdressers regularly exposed to formaldehyde fumes during treatment, as well as for the clients who receive it.

The agency currently encourages...