Hair-Relaxer Cancer Suits Should Go to Illinois, Plaintiffs Say

Women who link their cancers to hair relaxers made by L’Oreal USA Inc. and other companies asked a federal panel to combine their personal injury suits before a single judge in the Northern District of Illinois.

The products, marketed mainly to Black women, contain chemicals that disrupt the endocrine system, causing breast and uterine cancers, uterine fibroids, and other harm, Jenny Mitchell and others say.

Nine cases on behalf of 13 plaintiffs are pending in four federal district courts, according to a petition filed Tuesday with the US Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation. Given the sheer number of hair relaxer ...