The US Food and Drug Administration has missed its newest deadline to suggest banning formaldehyde and sure formaldehyde-releasing chemical compounds from hair-straightening merchandise, typically utilized by Black ladies.
The proposed rule had an action date of the last day of December 2025, in line with specialists, which the company lists as “12/00/25.”
But the FDA says the rule remains to be within the works.
“FDA’s proposed rule, ‘Use of Formaldehyde and Formaldehyde-Releasing Chemicals as an Ingredient in Hair Smoothing Products or Hair Straightening Products’ continues to remain a priority for the Agency,” an company spokesperson stated in an electronic mail. “FDA may adjust the anticipated publication date of this and other proposed rules when appropriate.”
The company added that it’ll present “periodic updates” to deadlines or different projected by means of the FDA’s Unified Agenda, which usually updates semi-annually, in spring and fall.
The FDA’s first deadline on the proposed rule was October 2023.
“That timeline was later moved to April 2024, then November 2024, March 2025, July 2025 and now December 31, 2025,” David Andrews, performing chief science officer on the Environmental Working Group, a nonprofit environmental well being advocacy group, stated in an electronic mail.
“Formaldehyde is a well-established carcinogen that can also cause respiratory irritation, skin sensitization, and other adverse health effects such as an increased risk of asthma,” he stated. “Every delay directly puts at risk the health of salon workers and consumers, particularly Black women, who are disproportionately exposed to harmful chemicals in personal care products.”
In 2021, salon staff joined forces with the Environmental Working Group and the nonprofit Women’s Voices for the Earth to press the FDA to behave. In a citizen petition, they requested that the company take regulatory motion to ban formaldehyde and formaldehyde-releasing chemical compounds, like methylene glycol, in hair-smoothing merchandise and hair-straightening merchandise.
Due to fret concerning the chemical compounds’ hyperlinks to elevated most cancers dangers, the FDA below the Biden administration signaled that it was contemplating a ban on these elements in sure beauty merchandise, together with chemical hair relaxers and urgent remedies. Those merchandise are closely marketed to Black ladies, which additionally raises considerations about disproportionate well being impacts.
But for the rest of the Biden administration and into the second Trump administration, the FDA repeatedly pushed again its motion date. Official motion was by no means taken.
“Every day these products stay on the market further undermines public confidence in the FDA’s ability to safeguard health,” Andrews stated, including that “because this is not a legally mandated deadline, there are no formal consequences if it is missed,” however it stays unclear when or whether or not the proposed rule shall be printed in any respect.
There isn’t any formal consequence or penalty for the FDA lacking its deadline.
But to maneuver ahead, the regulatory process would contain the company formally publishing the proposed rule within the Federal Register. The rule then could be up for public remark. After the remark interval closes, the company would overview and analyze all feedback acquired and determine whether or not to finalize or withdraw the rule. If the company moved ahead with the rulemaking course of, it could put together a last model of the rule and publish that within the Federal Register.
The Trump administration has included toxins and “harmful chemical exposures,” together with these launched by shopper merchandise, among the many listing of the US Department of Health and Human Services’ priorities.
Scientists have lengthy warned a few troubling hyperlink between the usage of hair-straightening chemical merchandise and an elevated danger of sure hormone-related cancers, together with uterine, ovarian and breast cancers, notably amongst Black ladies.
“Several epidemiologic studies, including work conducted by my colleagues and myself, have raised concerns about associations between frequent use of chemical hair straighteners and increased risks of uterine fibroids, infertility, and hormone-related cancers, including uterine, ovarian, and breast cancers,” Dr. Lauren Wise, a professor of epidemiology on the Boston University School of Public Health who research the potential dangers of hair-straightening products, stated in an electronic mail.
Fibroids are growths of tissue that kind within the uterus. Although they’re sometimes noncancerous and infrequently not harmful, they’ll trigger heavy bleeding, anemia and pelvic ache, and so they might result in problems once they develop. Some fibroids might trigger infertility or being pregnant loss. Black ladies are up to three times more likely to be recognized with fibroids than White ladies.
Wise led a research printed Wednesday within the American Journal of Epidemiology on hair relaxer use in relation to the incidence and progress of uterine fibroids.
“In this 2025 paper, recent use of temporary hair relaxers showed stronger positive associations with fibroid incidence and growth than use of permanent hair relaxers,” Wise stated.
“This is informative because temporary hair relaxers are suspected to contain more formaldehyde and formaldehyde-releasing chemicals than permanent relaxers,” she added. “To our knowledge, this is the first study to look at these two types of hair relaxers separately in relation to fibroid development.”
And Black ladies are disproportionately affected, Wise stated.
“These concerns are especially important in the context of racial disparities in exposure: hair relaxer use is much more common among women of color, particularly Black women, who often begin using these products at younger ages and continue use over many years,” she stated.
“This pattern results in greater cumulative exposure during critical windows of development, including childhood, adolescence, and the reproductive years,” she stated. “There is no safe level of exposure in consumer products that are heated and inhaled, particularly in occupational settings such as hair salons.”
Finalizing the proposed rule in order that formaldehyde could be banned as an ingredient in hair-straightening merchandise would “reduce ongoing harm, ensure equitable protection for consumers and workers, and clearly communicate that hazardous ingredients have no place in cosmetics,” Andrews stated. “The FDA must act immediately to ban formaldehyde in hair-straightening products. After more than a decade of warnings, promises and scientific agreement, the risk to public health is simply too great to wait any longer.”
Several lawmakers have repeatedly known as for the FDA to behave on this subject.
US Reps. Shontel Brown of Ohio, Nydia Velázquez of New York and Ayanna Pressley of Massachusetts have supported the proposed rule and proceed to encourage the FDA to propose a ban.
“This is really simple to me. Do we care about Black women getting cancer or do we not? Every action, or inaction, on this issue flows from that question – and we can see how people are answering,” Brown stated in an electronic mail.
“I’m beyond frustrated, because we’ve written letters, we’ve spoken out, we’ve filed legislation. There is a mountain of evidence that hair products being marketed to us everyday are harmful – so let’s do the right thing and get them off the shelves,” she stated. “The FDA owes the American people an explanation for these continued delays.”