Wednesday, May 1, 2024

Citing Cancer Risk, FDA May Limit Hair Straightener Ingredients

hair straightener cancer

Oct. 16, 2023 – The U.S. Food and Drug Administration is considering banning chemicals that have been linked to cancer from use in hair straightening products. Researchers in this study also couldn't identify the specific chemical that could be causing uterine cancer. They only noted that the chemicals were historically found in straighteners, where parabens, bisphenol A, metals and formaldehyde, could be contributing to the increased risk. The study data includes 33,497 U.S. women ages participating in the NIEHS-led Sister Study that seeks to identify risk factors for breast cancer and other health conditions. While there is no definitive collection of brands that are linked to cancer, people who developed cancer filed chemical hair straightener lawsuits and claimed the brands they used caused them to develop cancer. A Missouri woman has filed a lawsuit against L’Oréal and several other cosmetic companies, alleging that their hair-straightening products caused her to develop uterine cancer.

Hair Straighteners Cancer Lawsuit

She began using chemical relaxers in third grade and continued to use the products from about 2000 to March 2022. Victims should know where lawyers’ heads are in terms of what a hair relaxer case is worth because knowing what the upside might be could inform their decision to move forward with bringing a lawsuit. We also think our readers are sophisticated enough to know that this is just an educated guess as to the settlement value of a hair relaxer lawsuit and these predictions could be way off even if the methodology behind the predictions is sound. Each year only 20,000 cases of ovarian cancer are diagnosed in the U.S., making it relatively rare. This is mostly because ovarian cancer has very few symptoms in its earlier phases and is usually not diagnosed until the cancer has already spread.

What to Know About the Health Risks of Chemical Hair Straighteners

hair straightener cancer

The vast majority of participants who developed uterine cancer were black women, who are already at a disproportionate risk of the disease. In most states, it would not be too late to file a hair relaxer lawsuit based on the discovery rule. When you were first diagnosed with uterine cancer 7 years ago, you would have had no reason to think that your cancer was somehow related to hair relaxer. The connection between uterine cancer and chemical hair relaxer products did not become public knowledge until October 2022 were findings from the NIH Sister Study were published. This means that in states that follow the discovery rule (which is most of them), the statute of limitations on hair relaxer lawsuits did not begin to run until October 2022 at the earliest.

Do people who use hair straighteners or relaxers have increased risks of cancer?

More research is needed to understand which products may be harmful — personal care products should help, not harm, people, Bunick said. Sometimes formaldehyde isn’t explicitly listed on the packaging label, and, in certain circumstances, there may be other chemicals that, when heated, can release the carcinogen. “Consumers can immediately evaluate their products in the store before purchase, and avoid those products with formaldehyde or formaldehyde-releasing chemicals,” Bunick said. “I sincerely hope lawmakers in Congress continue to fight for improved quality control in the manufacturing of over the counter personal care products,” he said. Several national and international agencies study substances in the environment to determine if they can cause cancer.

There were 117 new cases added to the hair relaxer class action MDL over the last month, bringing the current number of pending cases up to 8,334. This is certainly a far cry from last summer when the MDL was averaging 2,500 new cases a month. One study published in 2021 found that 3% of non-Hispanic white women reported hair straightener use during adolescence compared to 75% of Black women, Kleinman highlighted. In the meantime, Brawley says, there are certain lifestyle factors that have stronger evidence of a link to cancer and are more important for women to focus on. "It is for certain that obesity, consuming too many calories and lack of exercise is a risk factor for breast cancer, a definite risk factor," he says, while the findings of this study only add up to a "perhaps" when it comes to risk. "For the chemical straighteners one of the big concerns there is formaldehyde, which is a known carcinogen," says White.

What Does a Federal Ban on Hair Relaxer Chemical Mean for Lawsuits? - The Legal Examiner

What Does a Federal Ban on Hair Relaxer Chemical Mean for Lawsuits?.

Posted: Wed, 24 Apr 2024 13:48:42 GMT [source]

Chemical Hair Straighteners & Cancer Risks

As a result, the automatic bankruptcy stay has protected Revlon from being sued. A study led by the Boston University School of Public Health has demonstrated a link between the usage of chemical hair straighteners and declines in fertility. The research, featured in the American Journal of Epidemiology, highlights a racial discrepancy, indicating that Black, Hispanic, and mixed-race individuals are more likely to use these products and potentially be exposed to their harmful chemicals. The research also discovered that these groups began using relaxers earlier, more frequently, and for longer periods, correlating with a drop in pregnancy chances.

Health

hair straightener cancer

But there is universal consensus that uterine cancer lawsuits have the strongest supporting science (the Sister Study we discuss below) and uterine cancer is obviously an awful consequence of using hair relaxers. So lawyers are filing uterine cancer lawsuits first because the early verdicts will impact victims’ settlement compensation. More proof supports consolidated litigation as we wait for the MDL Panel to rule on the class action. In the last ten days, seven new hair relaxer product liability lawsuits have been filed in federal courts.

Hair Dyes And Straighteners Linked To Higher Cancer Risk, Especially For Black Women

“This proposed rule would ban formaldehyde (FA) and other FA-releasing chemicals (e.g., methylene glycol) as an ingredient in hair smoothing or hair straightening products marketed in the United States,” the FDA states. "The association was notably higher among black women," says epidemiologist Alexandra White, study author and an investigator with the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences, who studies environmental risk factors for breast cancer. In the mid- to late 1970s, manufacturers changed the components in permanent hair dye products to eliminate some of the carcinogenic chemicals used as dye intermediates (1, 3, 4). It is not known whether any of the chemicals still used in hair dyes are carcinogenic (5). It’s also important to keep in mind that this study specifically enrolled women and people AFAB whose sisters (and siblings AFAB) had been diagnosed with breast cancer.

Shots - Health News

The researchers found that women who reported frequent use of hair straightening products, defined as more than four times in the previous year, were more than twice as likely to go on to develop uterine cancer compared to those who did not use the products. Now, new research conducted by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and published in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute has found that chemicals included in some hair straightening products may increase the risk of developing uterine cancer. Michele Lynn developed breast cancer after decades of using hair relaxers, her husband Mike told Drugwatch. Mike didn’t realize there was a link between Michele’s cancer and chemical hair straighteners until after she passed at age 43.

Some hair products might also contain other chemicals that have been linked to cancer, such as formaldehyde. Approximately 60% of the participants who reported using straighteners in the previous year were self-identified Black women, according to the study published in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute. Although, the study did not find that the relationship between straightener use and uterine cancer incidence was different by race, the adverse health effects may be greater for Black women due to higher prevalence of use. In October of 2022, the Journal of the National Cancer Institute (NJCI) published the latest results of a large-scale observational study called the Sister Study.

Hair Relaxer Cancer Lawsuit - Lawsuit Information Center Blog

Hair Relaxer Cancer Lawsuit.

Posted: Mon, 22 Apr 2024 13:26:21 GMT [source]

Studies have shown that Black women have a greater risk of developing cancer from hair relaxer use because they are typically heavy users. Sixty percent of the participants in the 2022 NIH study who reported using chemical hair straighteners were Black women, leading researchers to conclude that the exposure burden was higher among that demographic. At least five more hair relaxer lawsuits were filed in federal courts since the start of December. One of the hair straightener cases was filed in the Southern District of Ohio.

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