Hair Relaxers Containing Formaldehyde and other Carcinogenic Chemicals Still on U.S. Shelves

Santa Clara, CADespite studies over the past decade determining that formaldehyde and other toxic chemicals in hair relaxers are linked to reproductive-health disorders, and despite consumers concerns since the late 2000s, and advocacy groups petitioning the FDA since at least 2011 to ban hair products with formaldehyde, the agency still hasn’t banned the carcinogenic products. Health experts keep asking the FDA why it missed its own deadline, with the answer that it takes time. But during that time, how many more Black women will be diagnosed with uterine fibroids, preterm birth and infertility, or breast, ovarian and uterine cancer?

An extensive and informative article in the New York Times explains a succint delay and why hair relaxers containing formaldehyde are still marketed in the U.S. but banned in many European countries. “I hate to say it, but in the U.S., we don’t care. It’s about the money,” said Dr. Tamarra James-Todd, a Harvard professor who has been studying the chemicals in hair products and their links to reproductive-health disorders in Black women for 20 years.

FDA and Formaldehyde

Late 2000’s: the FDA received inquiries from consumers and salon professionals about the safety of products containing formaldehyde.

2021: FDA received a citizen petition from the Environmental Working Group and Women’s Voices for the Earth requesting that FDA take regulatory action to ban formaldehyde, formaldehyde equivalents, and other chemicals that emit high levels of formaldehyde in hair smoothing products and hair straightening products.

2021: Research published by the American Academy of Neurology found that long-term formaldehyde exposure in the workplace was associated with a 21 percent higher risk of cognitive impairment, including lower IQ scores and memory loss. The report resulted in the U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) limiting occupational formaldehyde exposure in the workplace to 0.75 ppm on average over an eight-hour workday, or 2 ppm not exceeding a 15-minute period.

2022: The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) found that formaldehyde exposure from the use of industrial products could be linked to cancer and that that long-term exposure to even low formaldehyde levels could cause certain cancers.

2023: the FDA proposed a ban on formaldehyde and formaldehyde-releasing chemicals, such as methylene glycol. The agency warned that formaldehyde use in hair relaxers has been associated with both short-term and long-term health effects, including skin reactions, respiratory problems, and an increased risk of certain types of cancer. 

April 2024: The EPA issued a draft evaluation stating that formaldehyde exposure is an unreasonable risk to human health and more than one million Americans face an increased risk of leukemia, head and neck cancers from chronic formaldehyde exposure.

A Band-Aid on a Bullet Hole

In its Spring 2024 proposed rule to ban formaldehyde, the FDA announced that since 2010 it “began communicating with the public to provide information about the potential health effects of these products and how to recognize products containing formaldehyde or its liquid forms. Since then, FDA has engaged in additional public outreach, including a series of focus groups with salon owners, salon stylists, and salon customers.” To what end?

And why are hair products marketed aggressively to Black women still on the market with so much evidence from government bodies and countless studies documenting the harm?

Back to the New York Times article and the difference between American and European regulations:

The U.S. v. Europe Regulations

• The European Union regulates more than 1,300 ingredients for use in cosmetics; the F.D.A. prohibits or restricts only nine ingredients that have been proved harmful to human health.
• The European Parliament is responsible for ensuring product safety. In the U.S., manufacturers rule.  
• in Europe and the United States, chemical relaxers and other beauty products are marketed similarly, but they aren’t the same products because Europe’s much stricter regulations prohibit many active ingredients, such as formaldehyde.
• In the U.S., hair relaxers marketed to children contain the highest levels of five of the chemicals prohibited in the European Union.

An FDA fact sheet currently advises against the use of hair-straightening products containing formaldehyde and related compounds. In a perfect world, the EPA, OSHA and the FDA, all U.S. federal regulatory bodies, would get together and prohibit carcinogenic chemicals, regardless of cost to business.