FDA Misses Deadline Again To Ban Toxic Chemicals In Hair Relaxers

Studies have found that formaldehyde in hair relaxers and straighteners are associated with hormone-related cancers.

The Food and Drug Administration’s long-awaited proposal to ban the use of formaldehyde as an ingredient in hair products in the U.S. has been delayed yet again. Frustratingly, although the ban was set to be implemented in July of 2024, the new target date has been moved to September of this year. Due to the constant delay, followers of the proposal are unclear about when it will come to fruition.

The FDA’s proposed rule has been highlighted as an important step in protecting Black women who use hair relaxers and hair straighteners that contain the harmful formaldehyde chemical. The FDA has found that it is highly toxic and suggested that it’s causing harm to the mostly Black women who use products that include it.

This is not the first time the FDA has missed the deadline to enact the proposal. Initially, according to NPR, the scheduled implementation was for April 2024. After the first deadline was missed, it was pushed back to July, and now it’s been moved again to September.

The FDA told NPR on April 3, to explain the constant delays, that the action date had to be moved as officials were “still developing the proposed rule.”

An FDA spokesperson added that the proposal “continues to be a high priority. [But] it takes time.”

“Before a proposed rule can be published in the Federal Register for public comment, it must be reviewed and approved within FDA and other parts of the Federal government,” the spokesperson said.

An attorney who represents product manufacturers and retailers, Allison Stevenson, concurred with the FDA spokesperson’s statement. She stated that she was not surprised by the continued delays in enacting the proposal.

Stevenson said, “There are a lot of moving parts…This all falls under legislation that is still relatively new, in almost all respects. And so it’s not uncommon to see things get delayed for one reason or the other.”

She predicted that the bill probably wouldn’t occur until 2025, despite how necessary it is to protect people of color whose health is disproportionately affected by formaldehyde in hair products.

“The regulation is necessary to protect the health and safety of communities of color,” Stevenson stated. “I certainly don’t believe that the delay should be indicative to anyone that the FDA is not making this issue a priority.”

As reported by the FDA, formaldehyde is associated with long-term effects including: “an increased number of headaches, asthma, contact dermatitis and possibly cancer.”

A recent study also concluded there is an increased risk of women developing hormone-related cancer when using the chemicals in their hair and, particularly, Black women are more likely to report using affected products.