Lead Is Finally Banned in Hair Dye
Lead is not what you need in water, food, or personal care products. But until recently, the FDA authorized the use of lead acetate in one such product, a certain type of hair dye, based on old research that showed it does not migrate from hair into the bloodstream. They changed their minds this week.
These are hair dyes such as Grecian Formula, which are marketed as gradually darkening hair over days or weeks. They are mainly sold to men.
Lead acetate attaches to hair and darkens in the presence of oxygen. The hair darkens a little with each treatment, so you should use it several times, darkening your hair slightly each time. The FDA calls them “progressive” hair dyes.
These dyes probably won’t kill you, but they do carry the risk of getting lead into your body or into the hands of children. These products should already have been packaged with a warning not to use the dye if you have cuts or abrasions on your scalp, or use it on your face or body hair, and wash your hands after use. Several consumer groups have petitioned the FDA to revise the research they used to initially determine that shampoos are safe enough for the market. The FDA announced :
This decision recognizes that there is no safe level of lead exposure, according to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention; a 1980 study evaluating lead exposure in hair dye identified deficiencies that initially supported its use; and the fact that US blood lead levels have dropped significantly since 1980, so we can no longer conclude that the potential exposure to lead from lead acetate hair dyes is negligible.
One last suggestion is some good news: we’ve done enough work to eliminate major sources of lead in the environment that are now worth looking out for and smaller ones like hair dye.
Companies have 12 months to stop producing lead dyes. Many have already replaced lead acetate with bismuth citrate, especially if they also sell their products in Canada or the European Union. In those places, lead acetate was already banned.