Campaigners have urged cosmetics giant L’Oreal to discontinue its hair-straightening products after research linked them to an increased risk of cancer.
Female activists also asked the company to invest in research on the long-term use of chemical relaxers, which make hair easier to straighten.
The open letter, coordinated by the UK feminist group Level Up, has been signed by a number of prominent public figures including Labour MP Dawn Butler and author Reni Eddo-Lodge.
It follows the publication of a National Institutes of Health study last October that found women who used the products multiple times a year were more than twice as likely to develop uterine cancer.
“We estimated that 1.64 per cent of women who never used hair straighteners would go on to develop uterine cancer by the age of 70, but for frequent users, that risk goes up to 4.05 per cent,” study leader Alexandra White of the US National Institute of Environmental Health Safety said in a statement.
Uterine cancer is the most common gynecologic cancer in the US, according to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, with rates rising, particularly among Black women.
Black women in the US, who report using hair straightening products more than other populations, are more likely to suffer from aggressive forms of womb cancer than other populations and death rates are higher among this group too, according to the National Institutes of Health study. The research tracked data from 34,000 women for over a decade.
Other signatories of the open letter include Leanne Pero, from Black Women Rising; the Labour MP Apsana Begum; the campaigner Lekia Lée; and the feminist activist Dr Akima Thomas. Eight other Labour MPs signed the petition, including Paulette Hamilton, Ian Lavery and Valerie Vaz.
Ikamara Larasi, a campaigner at Level Up, told The Guardian: “We should all be able to trust that the products we use on our bodies are safe … As one of the biggest brands in the world, we’re calling on L’Oréal to use their resources and power responsibly and listen to Black women.”
Ms Butler said: “I am all too familiar with these hair-relaxing products. It is deeply worrying that not enough is done to inform everyone using these products of the potentially serious damage that may be caused by long-term use.”
A spokesperson for L’Oréal said: “Our highest priority is the health, wellness and safety of all our consumers. We are confident in the safety of our products and believe the recent lawsuits filed against us in the US have no legal merit.
“L’Oréal upholds the highest standards of safety for all its products. Our products are subject to a rigorous scientific evaluation of their safety by experts who also ensure that we follow strictly all regulations in every market in which we operate.”
