by jameavelh MULEN
May 9, 2025
A new study reveals that over half of the Black and Latina women surveyed in Los Angeles regularly use personal care products containing a known cancer-causing carcinogen.
The journal Environmental Science & Technology Letters published the study on March 7, revealing that among the 64 women surveyed, 53% reported using shampoos, conditioners, bleaching creams, eyelash glue, and other products that contain formaldehyde and formaldehyde-releasing ingredients, which are known to cause cancer in humans.
“It’s really concerning that we are intentionally putting chemicals that release a carcinogen into our products that we apply to ourselves every day,” Robin Dodson, associate director of research at Silent Spring Institutea nonprofit research firm studying the environmental causes of breast cancer, told NPR.
Researchers collected the data in 2021 after previous studies indicated that Black and Latina women are disproportionately exposed to formaldehyde in beauty products compared to white women. Experts have suspected that the frequent use of chemical hair relaxers containing formaldehyde-releasing agents by Black women is one of the reasons why they die of breast, uterine, and ovarian cancers at significantly higher rates than their white counterparts.
In a study conducted by The Environmental Working Group (EWG), a nonprofit environmental agency, the researchers found that out of 4,011 personal care products marketed to Black women, only 21% were rated as low hazard in EWG’s Skin Deep® cosmetics database.
The FDA announced its plans to propose a ban on formaldehyde in 2023. The proposed ban was intended to protect the public from health risks associated with chemical use. The agency planned to implement the proposal in April 2024, but has faced multiple delays. Last year, the EWG condemned the FDA for failing to enforce the ban.
“Despite the overwhelming evidence of the dangers of formaldehyde in hair-straightening treatments, the FDA has consistently failed to act decisively,“ EWG wrote in a statement.
As of May 2025, the agency has not implemented the proposed ban. Europe banned formaldehyde as a cosmetic ingredient in 2009.
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