Recent studies supporting a long-suspected link between cancer and hair relaxers used by Black women have prompted lawsuits across the country and have encouraged the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to consider banning those containing formaldehyde.
The Sister Study, led by the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences in 2022, and several other studies, offer compelling scientific evidence of what has long been suspected to explain racial disparities that scientists have struggled to explain for decades, according to a report in The New York Times.
The FDA proposed the ban in October 2023, but has yet to implement it. If and when the FDA removes formaldehyde from relaxers, that ban would not address the fact that most relaxers remain vastly under-regulated and, until recently, insufficiently studied, The Times reported.
See “FDA considers ban of hair relaxers used by Black women and linked to serious health issues, report says” (June 13, 2024)
