Study Suggests Hair Dye, Cancer May Be Linked

Women who dye their hair place themselves at a higher risk of developing non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma, a rare cancer of the immune system, the National Cancer Institute said Tuesday. NCI researcher Sheila Zahm said about 20% of cases of women with the disease, or about 3,600 each year, might be attributable to use of the dyes.

Although the study was small and did not conclusively prove the dyes caused the cancer, Zahm said the evidence linking the two was greater than for any other chemical studied to date.

However, NCI said it could not recommend women change use of hair dyes because there was no definitive proof of a cause-and-effect relationship.