Federal regulations paused, halting FDA’s proposed ban on formaldehyde in hair products

A proposal to ban formaldehyde in hair straightening products is now in limbo after President Donald Trump signed an executive order pausing all federal regulations.

The Food and Drug Administration announced it would decide by April 2024 whether chemical hair straightening products sold in the U.S. would be banned from using formaldehyde or ingredients that can release formaldehyde when heated.

Not all chemical hair relaxers include the chemical, but many include ingredients that can release formaldehyde when heated, the FDA said in 2024. Over the years, an increasing number of studies have linked formaldehyde to cancers that are especially prevalent among Black women.

The agency had initially set a target date for the proposed ban of April 2024, according to a document published in the Unified Agenda, a government website that provides information on regulations under development by federal agencies. The date was moved to July 2024, and then to September 2024.

The target dates published in the Unified Agenda are only estimates, not firm deadlines, the agency has said. The FDA did not respond to a request for comment on the executive order Trump signed on Monday.

U.S. law does not require the FDA to approve cosmetic products and ingredients, other than food additives, before they go on the market, according to its website.

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

“Near the end of 2016, the FDA was prepared to ban it, there were scientists on the record saying, ‘let’s just ban the ingredient,'” Benesh recalled. But the forward motion toward barring formaldehyde faded with Trump’s first administration beginning in 2017.

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

Several broad studies have found that chemical hair straighteners can have harmful effects, including data from more than 30,000 Black women ages 35 to 74 that show a prevalence of uterine cancer among those who used hair relaxers more than twice a year for more than five years.

Thousands of women have joined a federal class action lawsuit against the makers of chemical hair relaxers, claiming the products have caused uterine cancer, breast cancer and other poor health outcomes. A federal judge set deadlines for later this year to move the case forward.

Michelle Garcia

Michelle Garcia is the editorial director of NBCBLK

Berkeley Lovelace Jr.

Berkeley Lovelace Jr. is a health and medical reporter for NBC News. He covers the Food and Drug Administration, with a special focus on Covid vaccines, prescription drug pricing and health care. He previously covered the biotech and pharmaceutical industry with CNBC.

Zinhle Essamuah contributed.

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