L'Oreal products caused cancer, lawsuit claims

STORY: L’Oreal has been sued by a Missouri woman who alleges she developed uterine cancer as a result of using its hair-straightening products.

The lawsuit, filed Friday (October 21), came days after a U.S. National Institute of Environmental Health Safety study found that hair-straightening products may significantly increase the risk of uterine cancer among frequent users.

Plaintiff Jennifer Mitchell says she was diagnosed with uterine cancer in 2018, having used L’Oreal’s products since about 2000, when she was 10.

"I was 28 years old and I was seeking fertility counsel in order to become a mother… I go in for my first appointment and as most consultations, they do what they call is a vaginal ultrasound… It was recommended that I have a full and total hysterectomy and in September 2018, that's when I had a full and total hysterectomy. And at that time, at the age of 28, my dreams of becoming a mother were gone."

She is asking the court to order the French firm to pay unspecified money damages and to pay for medical monitoring.

"I am the first of many voices to come that will stand up to these companies and say, 'No more.' 28 is too young, and my dreams for motherhood are no longer."

Ben Crump and Diandra Debrosse Zimmermann, lawyers for Mitchell, said their firms already had other clients in similar circumstances.

"Attorney Zimmermann and I, we represent many, many other women who are coming forward now as they learn the revelations of these scientific findings."

Mitchell accuses L'Oreal of deliberately marketing its hair-straightening products to Black women and girls while failing to warn of risks - despite knowing since at least 2015 that they contained potentially dangerous chemicals.

Uterine cancer is the most common gynecologic cancer in the United States, according to federal government data, with rates rising, particularly among Black women.

L'Oreal did not immediately respond to a request for comment.