What Comes To Be The Reason Of Hair Dye Linked To Blood Cancer – Part 2

The Continuation Of The Discussion

Mimi C. Yu, Ph.D., professor of preventive medicine at the University of Southern California's Keck School of Medicine, comes with the strongest evidence linking hair dyes to cancer. The more hair dye a person uses, the higher that person’s risk of bladder cancer as Yu’s team showed. 

Scientists don’t like to base recommendations on just a few studies as Yu says. 

Yu then explains, “to alarm women is it time? Starting to build-up is the evidence. There may not be entirely safe as the hair dye products as they exist out. More work needs to be done definitely. To the point that the scientific community should take note of whereas the evidence has built up. As we may have a not-so-safe consumer product out there, more work should be done. 

Cancer-Causing Chemicals In Hair Dye

Coming from the FDA’s National Centre for Toxicological Research is perhaps the evidence of most concern. FDA researcher Robert J. Turesky along with his colleagues has looked for what is a known carcinogen -- called 4-ABP -- in those hair dye products that are then bought off the shelf found at U.S. supermarkets as well as hair salons as reported last September in Chemical Research in Toxicology. 

Thereafter it was reported by Turesky and colleagues that whereas not in brown hair dyes, 4-ABP was then detected in eight of the 11 hair dyes and found in black, red, and blonde hair dyes. 

None of the off-the-shelf products contained 4-ABP as a regular ingredient as Yu notes thereby. Probably as a by-product of the chemical process through which dyes are made as instead she says the products were contaminated with the substance. 

Yu says they have found the smoking gun. Being sold every day to consumers, this team of FDA scientists actually have detected a known human carcinogen in samples of products on the shelf. 

Manufacturers can take action as Yu says is that since 4-ABP is not a necessary ingredient of hair dye which comes to as good news. 

Yu then says they can make the product safer if it is a contaminant. She doesn’t have to choose between so-called looking old and piling cancer risk on herself as a woman whose mental health is pegged on not having grey hair showing. It should be when that hair dye can be made safer. 

Not so optimistic is Zheng. That chemicals found in hair dyes are directly responsible for cancer, he says he doesn’t think. Causing harmful chemical reactions, he suggests that permanent hair dyes are particularly the darker colours. 

Zheng now says, whether the products’ current contents may or may not cause cancer is not the major issue. Those are not in the original dye, the issue is that permanent hair dyes all use an oxidising process that will create new chemicals. Causing cancer, the oxidising process will create new chemicals. It is the oxidising process of permanent hair dyes as the concern isn’t over the compound in the products. 

Some Women At Higher Risk

Members of a class of chemicals known as aromatic amines are the cancer-causing chemicals linked to hair dye. Able to detoxify these compounds is the human body. Some people can’t detoxify the compounds just because of their genetic makeup. The ones most at risk from hair dyes are those people as Yu last year reported in the journal Carcinogenesis. 

Which increases a hair-dye user’s risk of non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma, Zheng is also looking for genetic factors. 

This doesn’t mean hair dyes don’t pose a general risk as Yu warns. 

As Yu suggests, many genes are involved as he would be hesitant to put women thereby into two baskets. He wouldn’t say women who think they are not deficient could just assume that they are not at risk as they would say the study suggests the risks are stronger for women lacking working detox genes. 

Finally, Winding Up The Discussion

Hair dye or no hair dye, people with grey hair have no other option but to try dyeing. So, it is always better to check the ingredients to make sure there are no harmful chemicals. More than ever, the FDA approved products are safe to use. So, check that they comply with the instructions as set out by them. No wonder you are always going to the salon for the process as the salon expert can determine what product is safe to use. So do get expert advice before settling on one product.