U.S. Reps. Ayanna Pressley, D-Mass., Shontel Brown, D-Ohio, and Nydia Velásquez, D-N.Y., are urging the Meals and Drug Administration (FDA) to maneuver swiftly on advancing an already proposed federal rule that might ban a dangerous chemical present in some hair merchandise.
“Making certain that regulatory actions align with the very best pursuits of public well being stay the purpose and we encourage promptly finalizing the proposed rule,” mentioned the letter to FDA Commissioner Marty Makary, urging him to comply with by on a March deadline to advance the rule making course of with the intention to ban formaldehyde, a recognized carcinogen present in hair relaxers, straighteners, keratin remedies, Brazilian blowouts, and straightening lotions.
The congresswomen say the delay is “regarding” given the “established hyperlinks between formaldehyde publicity and critical well being circumstances.” The letter cites a 2022 research from the Division of Well being and Human Companies that discovered that the chemical may very well be related to myeloid leukemia and hormone-sensitive cancers equivalent to breast, uterine, and ovarian most cancers.
Pressley, Brown and Velásquez mentioned they’re notably involved about formaldehyde publicity to Black ladies, who they famous having a “heightened well being threat” and usually tend to “obtain or present formaldehyde-based hair remedies, which has a disparate influence on each employees and their clients.”
The preliminary federal ban was proposed in the course of the Biden administration, which additionally oversaw delays of its implementation. The three members of Congress requested a collection of solutions from the FDA, which has seen job cuts below the Trump administration, together with what steps the company is taking to finalize the proposed guidelines, whether or not there any current challenges to doing so, and whether or not the FDA intends to review every other probably hazardous chemical compounds generally present in private care merchandise.
In 2023, Pressley and Brown despatched a letter to the FDA urging it to analyze the security of hair straighteners. The federal company introduced its proposed ban on formaldehyde a number of months later in October of that very same yr.
“The FDA’s proposal to ban these dangerous chemical compounds in hair straighteners and relaxers is a win for public well being – particularly the well being of Black ladies who’re disproportionately put in danger by these merchandise on account of systemic racism and anti-Black hair sentiment,” Pressley mentioned on the time. “No matter how we put on our hair, we ought to be allowed to point out up on the earth with out placing our well being in danger.”
