Cosmetics giants L’Oréal and Revlon, among other manufacturers, are facing more than 8,000 lawsuits in the U.S. over potential cancer risks from their hair straightening chemicals. The complaints are supported by scientific studies – the manufacturers reject the allegations.
The plaintiffs had presented sufficient evidence that the companies acted negligently, improperly designed the products and failed to warn customers of the risks, U.S. District Judge Mary Rowland in Illinois justified approving the action on Monday.
The lawsuits also affect a number of smaller cosmetics companies, including some in India. L’Oréal and Revlon initially did not respond to questions from the Reuters news agency. The products, which contain chemicals to permanently straighten textured hair, are marketed primarily to African-American women.
“Convinced of the safety of our products”
The first lawsuits were filed after a National Institutes of Health study in October 2022 found that women who used the products several times a year had more than twice the risk of developing uterine cancer. After the first lawsuits became public, L’Oréal said it is “confident in the safety of our products and believes that the lawsuits recently filed against us have no legal basis.”
A Revlon representative previously told Reuters that the company does not believe science links hair straightening chemicals to cancer.
Source: Krone
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