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Formaldehyde in Beauty Products for Women of Color Raises New Concerns

Formaldehyde in Beauty Products for Women of Color Raises New Concerns

More than half of Black and Latina women may regularly use beauty products that contain a chemical heavily implicated in uterine cancer, a small study suggests.

For the new survey, researchers asked 70 Black and Latina women in Los Angeles to log each use of all their personal-care products for one week and take pictures of the labels to document the ingredients.

Overall, 53 percent of the women used beauty products containing formaldehyde, a preservative linked to cancer, or chemicals that release it, according to findings published in Environmental Science and Technology Letters.

The study participants documented formaldehyde (or formaldehyde-releasing preservatives) in a wide range of products, including:

  • Soap
  • Lotion
  • Shampoo
  • Conditioner
  • Skin lightener
  • Eyeliner
  • Eyelash glue

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