Reps. Pressley, Brown push FDA to finalize a bill to ban harmful chemical in hair relaxers

U.S. Reps. Ayanna Pressley, D-Mass., Shontel Brown, D-Ohio, and Nydia Velásquez, D-N.Y., are urging the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to move swiftly on advancing an already proposed federal rule that would ban a harmful chemical found in some hair products.

“Ensuring that regulatory actions align with the best interests of public health remain the goal and we encourage promptly finalizing the proposed rule,” said the letter to FDA Commissioner Marty Makary, urging him to follow through on a March deadline to advance the rule making process in order to ban formaldehyde, a known carcinogen found in hair relaxers, straighteners, keratin treatments, Brazilian blowouts, and straightening creams.

The congresswomen say the delay is “concerning” given the “established links between formaldehyde exposure and serious health conditions.” The letter cites a 2022 study from the Department of Health and Human Services that found that the chemical could be connected to myeloid leukemia and hormone-sensitive cancers such as breast, uterine, and ovarian cancer.

Pressley, Brown and Velásquez said they are particularly concerned about formaldehyde exposure to Black women, who they noted having a “heightened health risk” and are more likely to “receive or provide formaldehyde-based hair treatments, which has a disparate impact on both workers and their customers.”

The initial federal ban was proposed during the Biden administration, which also oversaw delays of its implementation. The three members of Congress requested a series of answers from the FDA, which has seen job cuts under the Trump administration, including what steps the agency is taking to finalize the proposed rules, whether there any present challenges to doing so, and whether the FDA intends to study any other potentially hazardous chemicals commonly found in personal care products.

In 2023, Pressley and Brown sent a letter to the FDA urging it to investigate the safety of hair straighteners. The federal agency announced its proposed ban on formaldehyde several months later in October of that same year.

“The FDA’s proposal to ban these harmful chemicals in hair straighteners and relaxers is a win for public health – especially the health of Black women who are disproportionately put at risk by these products as a result of systemic racism and anti-Black hair sentiment,” Pressley said at the time. “Regardless of how we wear our hair, we should be allowed to show up in the world without putting our health at risk.”