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Hair Dye and Cancer

Aired January 28, 2004 - 15:11   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.


MILES O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: Let's look at some health news now. Is coloring your hair a potential hazard to your health? Probably not. But a new study by Yale University suggests, women who dyed their hair frequently prior to 1980 might be at a higher risk of certain types of cancer.
CNN's Dr. Sanjay Gupta explains the risks.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, there's been some suspicion that hair dye use, especially long-term hair dye use, may be associated with a certain type of cancer known as non-Hodgkin's lymphoma.

That's been floating around the medical community for some time. There's never a cause-and-effect sort of relationship. But there have been observational studies now, a big one coming out of Yale University; 1,300 women were studied; 600 of them had this certain type of cancer; 700 of them did not.

They actually worked backwards to find out, what are the differences between these two women? And one of the things that came out was hair dye use and specifically long-term hair dye use. Take a look at what they found specifically, was that there was a two-times increased risk if the hair dye use was started before 1980, if it was frequent hair dye use, at least 25 years, eight times or more a year.

And also permanent or darker colors also seemed to convey an increased risk as well. Now, an equally important part of the study is those women who were not at increased risk despite using the hair dye. What they found there, started after 1980. There was a reformulation of hair dyes at that time. The hair dyes after 1980 a lot safer. No matter how frequent or what color, lighter colors always seem to convey more safety.

Nonpermanent, semi-permanent dyes also safer, as well, in terms of overall risk of cancer, all types of cancer. Again, as I mentioned, this has been around there for some time. This is what the industry trade had to say about this particular study. They talked about the fact that a causal relationship between hair dyes and cancer has not been demonstrated, has never been demonstrated.

Large epidemiological studies show no elevated health risk for women using hair dyes. Now, there is some good advice in all this, I think, and that's an important part of this. Hair dye use extremely small risk. Minimizes the skin contact always with dye. I think that's always a good rule of thumb. Lighter colors are going to be less concentrated.

The American Cancer Society points out, and I think importantly, that the chemical formulation of these dyes has changed significantly over the years. Particularly, about 25 years ago in the late '70s, early '80s, they did a significant change. The American Cancer Society says the chemical formulation of these dyes changed dramatically at that time, so that any risk that may have been associated with the use in the past may not be relevant to present use, an important story, probably not going to be any increased cancer risk for people.

My personal thought is, you don't really need to dye your hair anyways.

Dr. Sanjay Gupta, CNN reporting.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com







Aired January 28, 2004 - 15:11   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
MILES O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: Let's look at some health news now. Is coloring your hair a potential hazard to your health? Probably not. But a new study by Yale University suggests, women who dyed their hair frequently prior to 1980 might be at a higher risk of certain types of cancer.
CNN's Dr. Sanjay Gupta explains the risks.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, there's been some suspicion that hair dye use, especially long-term hair dye use, may be associated with a certain type of cancer known as non-Hodgkin's lymphoma.

That's been floating around the medical community for some time. There's never a cause-and-effect sort of relationship. But there have been observational studies now, a big one coming out of Yale University; 1,300 women were studied; 600 of them had this certain type of cancer; 700 of them did not.

They actually worked backwards to find out, what are the differences between these two women? And one of the things that came out was hair dye use and specifically long-term hair dye use. Take a look at what they found specifically, was that there was a two-times increased risk if the hair dye use was started before 1980, if it was frequent hair dye use, at least 25 years, eight times or more a year.

And also permanent or darker colors also seemed to convey an increased risk as well. Now, an equally important part of the study is those women who were not at increased risk despite using the hair dye. What they found there, started after 1980. There was a reformulation of hair dyes at that time. The hair dyes after 1980 a lot safer. No matter how frequent or what color, lighter colors always seem to convey more safety.

Nonpermanent, semi-permanent dyes also safer, as well, in terms of overall risk of cancer, all types of cancer. Again, as I mentioned, this has been around there for some time. This is what the industry trade had to say about this particular study. They talked about the fact that a causal relationship between hair dyes and cancer has not been demonstrated, has never been demonstrated.

Large epidemiological studies show no elevated health risk for women using hair dyes. Now, there is some good advice in all this, I think, and that's an important part of this. Hair dye use extremely small risk. Minimizes the skin contact always with dye. I think that's always a good rule of thumb. Lighter colors are going to be less concentrated.

The American Cancer Society points out, and I think importantly, that the chemical formulation of these dyes has changed significantly over the years. Particularly, about 25 years ago in the late '70s, early '80s, they did a significant change. The American Cancer Society says the chemical formulation of these dyes changed dramatically at that time, so that any risk that may have been associated with the use in the past may not be relevant to present use, an important story, probably not going to be any increased cancer risk for people.

My personal thought is, you don't really need to dye your hair anyways.

Dr. Sanjay Gupta, CNN reporting.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com