Human Carcinogen Benzene Found in Sebastian Dry Shampoo, Class Action Says [DISMISSED]

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A proposed class action alleges Sebastian Dry Clean Only dry shampoo contains an undisclosed, “dangerously high” level of benzene, a carcinogen linked to leukemia and other cancers.

The 23-page case alleges that the presence of benzene in the Sebastion dry shampoo renders it adulterated and misbranded and, therefore, illegal to sell under federal and state law. United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA) regulations dictate that no amount of the cancer-causing chemical is acceptable in cosmetic products, making the dry shampoo at issue “defective and worthless,” the lawsuit argues.

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Moreover, the maker of Sebastian dry shampoo, Wella Operations US LLC, has failed to warn consumers that its product contains benzene, as the dry shampoo’s ingredient list makes no mention of the poisonous substance. The case claims consumers would not have purchased the product, or would not have paid as much for it, had they known the dry shampoo contained benzene.

The complaint explains that benzene, a petrochemical found in crude oil, gasoline and cigarette smoke, is widely recognized as a harmful carcinogen by scientific authorities such as the Department of Health and Human Services and the American Cancer Society. It is recognized as a “Class 1 solvent” by the FDA for its “unacceptable toxicity,” and the World Health Organization warns that “[h]uman exposure to benzene has been associated with a range of acute and long-term adverse health effects and diseases,” the case relays.

Nevertheless, tests conducted by Valisure, an independent laboratory, in October 2022 found that the Sebastian dry shampoo contains 7.76 parts per million (ppm) of benzene. To put that in perspective, the FDA states that drug products may contain no more than two ppm of benzene, but only if its presence is “unavoidable,” the case says.

Still, a 2010 report from the Annual Review of Public Health relays that there is likely no safe level of exposure to benzene, the suit shares.

“Furthermore, Valisure shows data from the analysis of benzene by directly sampling contaminated air after spraying dry shampoo products, which suggests potential for short- and long-term inhalation exposure to high levels of benzene,” the case reads. “The presence of this known human carcinogen in dry shampoo products that are regularly used indoors and in large volumes makes this finding especially troubling.”

According to the suit, Wella Operations has a duty to regularly test the product for impurities such as benzene, especially since numerous manufacturers have issued recalls of their own dry shampoos due to the presence of benzene in recent years.

The lawsuit looks to represent anyone in the United States who purchased Sebastian Dry Clean Only dry shampoo for personal or household use during the applicable statute of limitations period.

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