Formaldehyde ban in hair products left in limbo after Trump executive order

A proposal to ban formaldehyde in hair straightening products was left in limbo after President Donald Trump signed an executive order halting all federal regulations.

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) had announced that it would decide in April 2024 whether to ban the use of formaldehyde — or other ingredients that can release this chemical when heated — in hair straightening products that They are sold in the country.

Not all chemical hair relaxers include formaldehyde, but many contain ingredients that can release it when their temperatures rise, the FDA said in 2024. And over the years, more and more studies have linked the chemical to certain types of hair. cancer that are particularly common among black women.

But while the initial deadline for the ban was April 2024, it was moved to July of that same year and then to September, according to a document published on Unified Agenda, a government website that provides information on the regulations that developed by federal agencies.

The agency explained that the deadlines published in Unified Agenda are estimates, not fixed deadlines. The FDA did not respond to a request for comment on the executive order that Trump signed on Monday.

But on its website, the agency notes that it is not required by law to approve cosmetic products and ingredients, except food additives, before they go on the market.

The Environmental Working Group, a research and advocacy group focused on toxic chemicals, has been asking the FDA to ban formaldehyde in hair products since 2008, said Melanie Benesh, its vice president of government affairs.

“At the end of 2016, the FDA was prepared to ban it. There were scientists openly saying ‘let’s ban the ingredient,'” Benesh said. But progress toward restricting formaldehyde faded under the first Trump administration, which began in 2017.

Maryland, California and Washington have banned formaldehyde in hair products, but Benesh stressed that more states could follow suit in the absence of federal regulation. Still, he added, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., Trump’s nominee to lead the Department of Health and Human Services, has shown interest in the issue.

Several studies have found that chemical hair relaxers can have harmful effects. Among the investigations there is data from more than 30,000 black women between 35 and 74 years old. Prevalence of uterine cancer was found among those who used relaxers more than twice a year for more than five years.

Thousands of women have joined a federal class-action lawsuit against manufacturers of chemical hair straighteners, alleging that the products have caused uterine cancer, breast cancer and other negative health outcomes. A federal judge set deadlines for later in 2025 to move forward with the case.