“No pause button on cancer”: Open letter urges FDA to ban toxic hair relaxers after delays

13 Aug 2024 --- The heat is on the US FDA to ban toxic hair relaxers. An open letter from the Clean Beauty Action Network (CBAN) urges FDA Commissioner Robert Califf to act on the agency’s promise to ban toxic hair relaxers amid research from the agency that shows some hair relaxers contain formaldehyde, a known carcinogen.

Regulation Identifier Number #0910-AI83 was scheduled for public comment in April, but progress has yet to be reported.

CBAN founder Daphne Nguyen says Califf must immediately prioritize the FDA rulemaking process on using formaldehyde in hair relaxers.

“There is supposed to be a proposed rule in the works to ban this chemical from these products… Unfortunately, there’s no pause button on cancer, so please would you use your position now to unpause this bureaucratic delay,” she writes.

Call to action
The youth-led, nonprofit organization aims to make the cosmetics industry a “safer, greener and more ethical landscape” through scientific research, public education and advocacy.

Chemical hair relaxers break down proteins in the hair to straighten it. According to the FDA, the formaldehyde used in these products presents health hazards when breathed into the lungs or when coming into contact with the eyes or skin.

Legal experts in the FDA field say that the ban is unlikely to happen this calendar year. It is unclear why the FDA’s proposed rule was not released by its intended deadline, which has raised concerns about the agency’s commitment to protecting public health.

“The big picture here is that most consumers don’t know that the cosmetics and beauty products we use don’t have to be verified as safe. People are rightly shocked and appalled that our personal care products contain formaldehyde, asbestos and other toxic chemicals and carcinogens,” Nguyen asserts in her letter.

Hair relaxers can cause types of cancers according to the FDA.“It makes no sense that products we trust to apply to our bodies do not need to be tested and verified as safe. Instead, they go through protracted proceedings like this… Commissioner Califf, as a medical doctor, we expect that you are aware of the health risks of formaldehyde exposure, but you might be unaware of the delays in this rulemaking.”

CBAN’s call is a broader representation of the growing concern for underregulated cosmetics and a desire for regulatory action to protect consumers. The letter aligns with the industry trend of clean beauty and the demand for product safety for consumers and the planet.

Harmful health effects
Formaldehyde has several long-term effects associated with it, which can include an increased number of headaches, asthma, contact dermatitis and cancer. It has been tied to increased rates of uterine cancer, breast cancer and ovarian cancer — especially for Black women.

“We estimated that 1.64% of women who never used hair straighteners would go on to develop uterine cancer by the age of 70, but for frequent users, that risk goes up to 4.05%,” lead author Alexandra White, the head of the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences Environment and Cancer Epidemiology group, told NPR in 2022.

It can also cause allergic (or contact) dermatitis, and the more exposure one has to products containing formaldehyde — in terms of length of time and concentration — the higher the health risk, the FDA reports.

A study by Boston University found that postmenopausal Black women had a greater risk of developing uterine cancer if they used hair relaxers more than twice a year or consistently for more than five years.

Researchers found a higher rate of uterine cancer among postmenopausal Black women who reported having used chemical hair relaxers for at least ten years, regardless of frequency. The study was based on 44,798 Black women for up to 22 years.

By Sabine Waldeck