Arizona has filed a lawsuit against L’Oreal, becoming the first state to accuse the cosmetics company of concealing cancer risks associated with its hair relaxer products, predominantly marketed to African American women. Attorney General Kristin Mayes claims L’Oreal violated consumer protection laws by failing to warn consumers about alleged links to ovarian and uterine cancers.
This state action significantly expands the legal challenges L’Oreal faces, which already include over 12,000 individual lawsuits consolidated in federal court, largely spurred by a 2022 NIH study linking frequent hair relaxer use to an increased risk of uterine cancer.
Arizona has launched a significant legal challenge against the global cosmetics behemoth L'Oreal, accusing the company of deliberately hiding evidence that its popular hair relaxer products could lead to cancer in women. This lawsuit from the Grand Canyon State adds a new dimension to the thousands of similar individual claims already consolidated against L'Oreal and other manufacturers.
Arizona Attorney General Kristin Mayes, a Democrat, filed the landmark lawsuit in state court late Thursday. This makes Arizona the first state to take legal action over the alleged cancer risks linked to hair relaxers. The suit contends that L'Oreal violated state consumer protection laws by actively marketing these products – which are predominantly used by African American women – without providing crucial warnings about potential links to ovarian and uterine cancers.
The state is seeking substantial penalties and damages, alongside a court order compelling L'Oreal to cease sales of these products unless clear warnings about the cancer risk are prominently displayed.
Throughout decades of marketing these products to women and even children, L'Oreal and its affiliates are accused by Arizona's lawsuit of having "exploited centuries of social pressures and discriminatory beauty standards affecting people of African descent, all while prioritizing profit over consumer safety."
This state-level action emerges as L'Oreal navigates more than 12,000 similar lawsuits filed by women or their families. These cases have been merged into a multidistrict litigation (MDL) proceeding in a Chicago federal court, a streamlined process for managing complex lawsuits from various jurisdictions.
While L'Oreal did not immediately comment on the new Arizona lawsuit, the company has previously asserted that its products undergo rigorous safety reviews and has expressed confidence that the claims lack legal or scientific merit.
The products in question, sold under popular brand names such as Dark and Lovely and Optimum, are designed to permanently straighten textured hair. The initial wave of lawsuits began surfacing following the release of a pivotal 2022 study by the National Institutes of Health. This study revealed that women who used these hair relaxer products several times a year were more than twice as likely to develop uterine cancer.
The ongoing lawsuits aim to secure damages for the women's pain and suffering, as well as economic compensation for medical expenses and the cost of the products. Beyond L'Oreal, other manufacturers like Revlon are also named in these lawsuits, with Revlon likewise denying any connection between its products and cancer.
Court records indicate that the multidistrict litigation continues to advance, with the potential for trials to commence as early as next year.
