Congress Targets Hair Products With Cancer-causing Ingredients Marketed To Black Women

Federal lawmakers connected Wednesday introduced 4 bills aimed astatine banning aliases regulating vulnerable chemicals successful hairsbreadth and beauty products mostly marketed toward Black women.

The 4 proposals successful nan Safe Beauty Bill Package would region ingredients that are known to origin crab from beauty and individual attraction hairsbreadth products, frankincense protecting women of colour and salon workers who are astatine a precocious consequence of vulnerability to these ingredients, lawmakers said.

Lawmakers besides opportunity there's mounting technological grounds linking harmful beauty ingredients to superior wellness conditions specified arsenic bosom cancer, reproductive harm, early puberty and learning disabilities.

Ingredients that could origin crab were recovered successful 10 synthetic hairsbreadth products utilized successful braids, extensions and different hairstyles celebrated pinch Black women, according to a Consumer Reports study released successful March. Researchers besides recovered varying amounts of lead, which tin origin superior wellness and developmental problems, successful astir synthetic hairsbreadth samples they evaluated.

Advocates of nan measure opportunity nan authorities would group standards for constituent transparency and information successful hairsbreadth products.

“These bills admit that everyone deserves protection from unsafe cosmetic exposures sloppy of wherever they live, shop aliases work,” Janet Nudelman, head of Program and Policy astatine Breast Cancer Prevention Partners and their Campaign for Safe Cosmetics, said successful a connection connected Thursday.

The measure package includes nan Toxic-Free Beauty Act, which bans 2 classes of chemicals and 18 highly hazardous chemicals recovered successful hairsbreadth products including lead, mercury, formaldehyde, asbestos, phthalates and parabens which person been linked to cancer, encephalon harm and reproductive harm.

The Food and Drug Administration announced it would determine by April 2024 whether chemic hairsbreadth straightening products sold successful nan U.S. would beryllium banned from utilizing formaldehyde aliases ingredients that tin merchandise formaldehyde erstwhile heated. The proposal, however, has been successful limbo since 2024 and was further held up aft President Donald Trump signed an executive bid pausing each national regulations.

The package besides includes nan Cosmetic Safety Protections for Communities of Color & Salon Workers Act, which targets nan disproportionate vulnerability to toxic chemicals successful cosmetic products marketed to salon workers and women of color, particularly Black women.

Rep. Jan Schakowsky, D-Ill, authored each 4 bills and said consumers merit accountability erstwhile it comes to hairsbreadth ingredients.

“It’s clip to adjacent nan loopholes that let toxic chemicals successful nan products we usage connected our bodies each day,” she said successful a statement. “This authorities delivers precisely that.”

Three years ago, Congress adopted nan Modernization of Cosmetics Regulations Act of 2022, a sweeping cosmetic information rule that gave nan FDA authority complete hairsbreadth products but did small to alteration nan existent information of nan ingredients successful beauty and individual attraction products, lawmakers said.

Some states person already addressed constituent information successful their laws.

Since 2023, Vermont banned 17 chemicals and 2 classes from cosmetic products; California banned 25 chemicals; and Washington and Oregon banned 13 chemicals and 3 classes of chemicals, lawmakers said.