Nationally acclaimed civil rights and personal injury attorney Ben Crump joins as co-counsel
Chicago, October 21, 2022 – DiCello Levitt filed a mass tort lawsuit today on behalf of women – many of whom are Black – who have contracted or are at greater risk of contracting uterine cancer and other significant health conditions from their use of chemical hair straightening products. The suit has been filed by Diandra ‘Fu” Debrosse Zimmermann with Attorney Ben Crump.
According to a new study published this week in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute, frequent users of chemical hair straightening products, defined in the study as more than four times a year, were more than twice as likely to develop uterine cancer than those who didn’t use those products. The study was conducted by the National Institute of Health’s National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences.
That shocking finding is particularly alarming for Black women, who report using hair straightening products more than other populations. Uterine cancer rates and deaths are on the rise in the U.S., and death rates are highest among non-Hispanic, Black women, who are more likely than other populations to be afflicted with aggressive subtypes of uterine cancer, according to the National Institutes of Health, which tracked data from 34,000 women in the Sister Study for more than a decade.
“The fact that these companies targeted Black and Latin women for their own profit motive and without regard to the serious health risks that these hair-straightening products cause is a serious wrong that needs to be corrected,” said Debrosse Zimmermann. “We have commenced this important litigation to seek and obtain justice for those women and their families.”
“Black women have long been the victims of dangerous products specifically marketed to them,” said Crump. “Black hair has been and always will be beautiful, but Black women have been told they have to use these products to meet society’s standards.”
Chemical hair straighteners typically contain products associated with higher cancer risk, including formaldehyde, metals, phthalates, and parabens, which may be more easily absorbed by the body through scalp burns and abrasions often caused by chemical straighteners.
The case has been filed in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois.
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ABOUT DICELLO LEVITT At DiCello Levitt, we’re dedicated to achieving justice for our clients through class action, business-to-business, public client, whistleblower, personal injury, and mass tort litigation. Our lawyers are highly respected for their ability to litigate and win cases—whether by trial, settlement, or otherwise—for people who have suffered harm, global corporations that have sustained significant economic losses, and public clients seeking to protect their citizens’ rights and interests. Every day, we put our reputations—and our capital—on the line for our clients. dicellolevitt.com
ABOUT BEN CRUMP LAW
Through his work, nationally renowned civil rights and personal injury attorney Ben Crump has spearheaded a legal movement to better protect the rights of marginalized citizens. He has led landscape-changing civil rights cases and represented clients in a wide range of areas including civil rights, personal injury, labor and employment, class actions, and more. Ben Crump Law is dedicated to holding the powerful accountable. For more information, visit bencrump.com.