内容摘要：“That is extremely unusual,” said Griffis, who sat in on such briefings with the previous health secretary and said that none were held for Kennedy during his first month on the job. “I’ve never seen that before.”

“That is extremely unusual,” said Griffis, who sat in on such briefings with the previous health secretary and said that none were held for Kennedy during his first month on the job. “I’ve never seen that before.”

Jasmine McDonald, a professor of epidemiology at Columbia University who has studied the health impacts of chemical hair straighteners, said the Consumer Reports study shouldn’t invoke fear but awareness about the potential harms of braiding hair, the lack of federal regulations and the minimal research.“I think that in our culture, we sometimes normalize things to the point where we don’t see the harm ... the more that we can raise awareness that some of these cultural routines could potentially provide harm is us having the potential to stop that harm,” McDonald said.

If you’re concerned about using synthetic braiding hair or straightening chemicals, there are other hairstyles to try.You can use Brazilian wool hair instead of synthetic hair, said Gloria Okpurukre, who owns Anointed Fingers braiding salon in Fayetteville, Georgia. You can also braid your real hair, but don’t expect the same results.“The purpose of adding the hair is for volume and length,” Okpurukre said. “A lot of people, their hair starts thinning out and they need to add something to make it look nice.”

Some synthetic brands use banana fiber to create the hair, which companies say are less irritating to the scalp. But Ford said you won’t necessarily avoid chemicals just because you switch brands.Raven Baxter, a molecular biologist who has talked about braiding hair on social media, opted to stop using synthetic braiding products because of the lack of information — both on the packaging or in research studies. Now, she uses single-ingredient products in her hair care routine, like aloe vera gel and vegetable glycerin.

“A lot of the work that scientists do, we’re able to do it because a funder deemed it as important to support that research,” she said, adding, “until we have funders that value the things that we’re concerned about, we’re not necessarily going to get the research published that concerns us.”

McDonald suggested staying away from products that contain PFAS, parabens and other “forever chemicals.”affect weight gain remains unclear.

KENNEDY at April 10 cabinet meeting regarding food dyes: “We’ve shown now that this directly affects academic performance, violence in the schools, and mental health, as well as physical health.”shows synthetic food colors common in U.S. foods are linked to neurobehavioral problems in children and that the dyes may cause or exacerbate symptoms, particularly hyperactivity. In addition, children may vary widely in their sensitivity to the dyes.

“It is clear that some children are likely to be more adversely affected by food dyes than others,” researchers in California’s Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment reported in 2021.Those responses have the potential to affect school work and behaviors such as aggression, but to date there is no clear evidence of a direct relationship between food dyes and academic performance, violence or other mental and physical conditions, scientists say.