Brazilian Hair Treatment Comes Under F.D.A. Fire
New York Times
Roni Caryn Rabin
September 14, 2011
A popular hair-straightening product called Brazilian Blowout, which has received scrutiny in recent months after tests found it contains significant amounts of the harmful chemical formaldehyde, has come under new government pressure. The United States Food and Drug Administration has stepped into the fray by warning the company that its product contains a “poisonous or deleterious substance” and that it was falsely labeled as formaldehyde-free.
In a letter last month to Brazilan Blowout officials, the agency said that tests showed that up to 10 percent of the straightening formula is a liquid form of formaldehyde. Formaldehyde has been linked to myeloid leukemia and rare cancers of the nose and upper mouth in embalmers and was officially added to the list of known carcinogens in June.
