Hair Straightening Dangers Outlined by Congress

Thu

Dec

2012

Hair Straightening Dangers: Congress Says Products Could Cause Cancer

hair straightening products

If you’re fond of using a bottled spray, gunk or goo to straighten your hair in the morning, listen up: three representatives of Congress are asking the Food and Drug Administration to crack down on manufacturers of hair straightening products they believe to be a public health risk. The representatives, including Earl Blumenauer (D-Oregon), Jan Schakowsky (D-Illinois) and Edward Markey (D-Massachusetts), are concerned because they say these products contain high levels of formaldehyde, making them potentially carcinogenic.

Formaldehyde has been listed as a known human carcinogen by the National Toxicology Program since 2011, but the dangers have been suspected since the early 1980s. The letter sent to the FDA could lead to major changes in how hair straightening products are formulated and labeled.

Hair Straightening Dangers are Already Known

Many consumers have already complained to the FDA about having adverse reactions to hair straightening products such as Brazilian Blowout. According to reports, some of these reactions have included rashes, vomiting, nausea, chest pain, respiratory issues and headaches.

In addition to these reactions, the National Toxicology Program, World Heath Organization and the National Cancer Institute have all agreed that long-term formaldehyde exposure could potentially cause leukemia.

In fact, this isn’t the first time that Congress has contacted the FDA about the hair straightening danger caused by their products, either. Just last year, the same three representatives asked the FDA to recall the products in question and issue a report on the dangers of formaldehyde. The FDA complied with the request and sent a warning to GIB LLC, the manufacturer of Brazilian Blowout, telling them that their products are misbranded and adulterated. This is because Brazilian Blowout and other popular hair straightening products contain dangerous levels of formaldehyde, even though the packaging claims the products to be formaldehyde-free.

Unfortunately, this is where action ended. GIB LLC did nothing to reformulate or properly label their products, and the FDA failed to follow up with any additional requests.

A Second Request

The representatives aren’t letting up, however, and their new letter to the FDA insists that action be taken against GIB LLC immediately. According to the letter, the fact that the FDA isn’t acting puts the health of “thousands of salon workers and consumers at risk” of being exposed to dangerous levels of formaldehyde. Representative Markey wrote that the FDA should ban the sale of these types of hair straightening products immediately, and determine whether formaldehyde should be banned from hair products completely.

In January of 2012, a lawsuit was settled with the determination that GIB LLC would need to apply warning labels to all of their products, noting that formaldehyde gas could be released upon application. However, representatives are concerned that such a label might not sufficiently warn consumers and hair stylists of the dangers of formaldehyde. In addition, GIB LLC CEO Michael Brady didn’t take the settlement seriously, and said “We get to sell the product forever without reformulation. In my eyes, that’s the acquittal we’ve been waiting for.”

Other countries have already taken action, and Brazilian Blowout is currently banned in Australia, Ireland and Canada. In the U.S., the product can still be purchased from beauty retailers, salons and online stores.