FDA Emails: Scientists Pushed To Ban Formaldehyde-Based Hair-Smoothing Treatments as Early as 2015

WASHINGTON – Emails obtained by the Environmental Working Group reveal that in 2015 and 2016, scientists at the Food and Drug Administration urged the agency to ban formaldehyde in popular hair-smoothing treatments, also known as “Brazilian blowouts.” Four years later, these hazardous treatments remain legal.

Today The New York Times published a report that details how the FDA scientists grew frustrated with the slow pace of regulation. The Times said:

The Food and Drug Administration has allowed Brazilian Blowout and similar products, called keratin treatments, to remain on the market despite the recommendations of its own scientists, according to internal agency emails obtained under the Freedom of Information Act by the advocacy group Environmental Working Group and shared with The New York Times. . . . 

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