Formaldehyde Hair-Smoothing Ban Still ‘High Priority’ For US FDA Despite Proposed Rule Delay

06 Jun 2024

• By Lauren Nardella

Amid organizational and leadership changes and numerous competing high priorities, the FDA’s planned Notice of Proposed Rulemaking to ban formaldehyde-containing hair-straightening products has been pushed from April to July 2024. An agency spokesperson provided an update on related activities, which are being closely watched by NGOs, state-level policymakers, and industry stakeholders.

The US Food and Drug Administration has had an adversarial relationship with heated hair-straightening products that release formaldehyde for at least a decade, and it may be a bit longer still until the agency’s proposed rule for a ban is released.

An FDA spokesperson told HBW Insight the rule continues to be a “high priority,” but that “the rulemaking process takes...