Woman sues L’Oreal over products that cause ‘cancer’!

A US lady has filed a lawsuit against French cosmetics company L’Oreal for developing uterine cancer a few days after a research revealed that chemical hair straightening products were to blame for a rare kind of cancer. Jenny Mitchell allegedly filed a legal case alleging that she had to have a complete hysterectomy as a result of developing uterine cancer while using L’Oreal’s chemical hair straightening products for more than two decades.

A hysterectomy involves the removal of the uterus, which prevents the patient from becoming pregnant following the procedure. Ben Crump, a lawyer for Mitchell, claimed that among other parties, his client demanded compensation from the French corporation. Crump also stated that such harmful items were specifically targeted towards Black women. According to Crump, ‘dangerous items targeted exclusively at black women have long been the victims’.

‘We will probably find that Ms Mitchell’s terrible example is only one of several instances when firms actively mislead Black women to maximise their profits,’ the report reads. Earlier, Johnson & Johnson was criticised by Black women all over the US for marketing talc-based powder, which contained asbestos and caused cancer, specifically to consumers with dark complexion.

According to WION, a recent study that was published in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute revealed that women who routinely use chemical hair straightening appliances had a higher chance of developing a very uncommon kind of cancer. Over the course of almost 11 years, the study used information from close to 34,000 American women (10.9 to be exact). Ages of the participants ranged from 35 to 74.

The lead author of the study and researcher Alexandra White from the US National Institute of Environmental Health Safety (NIEHS) estimated that 1.64 percent of women who had never used hair straighteners would go on to develop uterine cancer by the age of 70, but that risk increased to 4.05 percent for heavy users. Given that ‘Uterine cancer is a rather rare sort of cancer,’ she continued, ‘it is critical to put this information in context’.

Although there were no racial associations discovered by the study, the researchers emphasise the significance the results may have for black women because they are more likely to use these items and start doing so earlier than other women.