According to an order from the Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation, nearly 60 lawsuits claiming hair relaxer products sold by L’Oreal USA Inc. and other companies cause cancer and other health problems will be consolidated in Chicago federal court.
 
Court records show at least 57 lawsuits have been filed in federal courts across the country over the products, which use chemicals to permanently straighten textured hair. The lawsuits allege the companies knew their products contained dangerous chemicals but marketed and sold them anyway.
 
The lawsuits follow the October publication of a National Institutes of Health study that found women who used the products multiple times a year were more than twice as likely to develop uterine cancer.
 
In a statement posted online after the first lawsuits were filed, L’Oreal said it is “confident in the safety of our products and believe the recent lawsuits filed against us have no legal merit.”

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