by Jeroslyn JoVonn
April 24, 2025
The FDA is being called out after years of stalled progress and missed deadlines on banning formaldehyde in hair-straightening products.
A group of environmental and public health organizations united to pen an open letter to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) calling for an immediate ban on formaldehyde in hair-straightening products.
The April 15 letter, crafted in partnership between Women’s Voices for the Earth (WVE) and 41 environmental and public health organizations nationwide, calls on newly confirmed FDA Commissioner Dr. Marty Makary to act after years of stalled progress and missed deadlines.
“The FDA’s repeated failures to implement a formaldehyde ban in hair straightening products reflect a broader issue of regulatory inertia that endangers our health,” WVE Director of Programs Jayla Burton said in a statement. “Regulators cannot continue to sideline public health for bureaucratic delays and budget cuts. The time for action is now.”
Advocates have urged the FDA to investigate the health risks associated with formaldehyde in hair-straightening products and smoothing treatments. The dangerous carcinogen places salon workers and consumers at risk for cancer, respiratory complications, and severe allergic reactions. Especially hairstylists who serve Black and Latina women, who recent studies show face heightened exposure to toxic VOCs in chemical hair products, putting their health at serious risk.
The open letter is the WVE’s latest move to advocate for the formaldehyde ban. It comes nearly 10 years after the organization took the FDA to court in 2016 for ignoring a six-year-old petition calling on the agency to investigate the health dangers of formaldehyde in hair products. While the FDA made promises to take action in April 2024, the agency has postponed its proposed action date four times, with the latest being in March 2025.
The longer the delay, the more salon workers’ and consumers’ health is at risk. But with the FDA recently laying off nearly 3,500 FDA employees, the delays on critical matters continue to go unaddressed.
“Black and Brown women have long borne the brunt of toxic beauty standards and the products that come with them. The continued delay in banning formaldehyde—a known carcinogen—is not just a regulatory failure, it’s a public health injustice,” said Diamond Spratling, founder & executive director of Girl Plus Environment. “We urge the FDA to prioritize the lives, health, and dignity of communities most impacted and move swiftly to ban formaldehyde in hair-straightening products once and for all.”
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