Hair dye study: The European Commission has banned 22 hair dye substances after a study found that the long-term use of certain hair dyes bears a potential risk of bladder cancer. The ban will come into force on December 1st next.
It follows investigations by the EU's Scientific Committee on Consumer Products, which has been looking at the safety of hair dyes for a number of years.
It recommended an overall safety assessment strategy for hair dyes including a requirement that hair dye cosmetic ingredients be tested for their potential genotoxicity or mutagenicity. It requested manufacturers to submit safety files for the chemicals contained in their hair dyes if they expected them to remain on the market.
Because the industry had not submitted the 22 substances which have now been banned for safety evaluation, the commission decided they could not be used in any hair dyes marketed in the EU from the end of the year.
The European Cosmetic, Toiletry and Perfume Association said virtually none of the hair dye chemicals banned are used in commercial products.
"They are used very little, if at all, in the cosmetic products of our member companies," Florian Schellauf, of the association's scientific department, said.
A commission spokeswoman said, however, that because the chemicals may be used in some places around the world, the ban would prevent them from being used in products circulating in the EU.
The banned chemicals include substances such as 4-Hydroxyindole and Acid Red 73 (CI 27290). The cosmetics industry has submitted details of 115 other hair dye substances which will now be evaluated for safety by the scientific committee.
European Commission vice-president Guenter Verheugen, responsible for enterprise and industry policy, said: "Substances for which there is no proof that they are safe will disappear from the market".
The EU hair dye market was worth €2.6 billion in 2004. This accounts for some 8 per cent of the value of output of the cosmetics industry in Europe.
Permanent hair dyes account for 70-80 per cent of the colouring product market in Europe. More than 60 per cent of women colour their hair, while 5-10 per cent of men use hair dye.