FDA misses own deadline to propose ban on cancer-linked formaldehyde from hair relaxers

A proposal to ban formaldehyde in hair-straightening products that was scheduled to take place in April has not been released by the Food and Drug Administration, disregarding the agency’s own deadline.

A proposal to ban formaldehyde in hair-straightening products that was scheduled to take place in April has not been released by the Food and Drug Administration, disregarding the agency’s own deadline. 

The proposal had come after wide-ranging studies found an association between some of the ingredients in hair-smoothing and hair-straightening products, which are used mostly by Black women, and cancer. 

It is unclear why the FDA has not released its proposed ban. The agency did not respond to requests for comment by NBC News. 

The FDA has previously told NBC News, “the Unified Agenda estimates the action date for the NPRM as April 2024. We are still developing the proposed rule and cannot comment further about questions of timing or content at this time.”

In 2022, a decadeslong study by the National Institutes of Health of more than 33,000 Black women showed an increase in uterine cancer among those who regularly used hair relaxers. 

https://www.nbcnews.com/news/nbcblk/fda-formaldehyde-hair-straightener-uterine-cancer-rcna149899

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