Baroness Randerson
Main Page: Baroness Randerson (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Baroness Randerson
My Lords, I thank the noble Baroness for giving us the opportunity to discuss this today. It is an important part of raising awareness of the issue. Indeed, she has put forward some interesting potential solutions. I fear that some of what I want to say will be a poor reflection of what the noble Baroness has said, because the questions that come to our minds are similar.
The campaign to ban PPD is an extreme response to a problem, and one that it is not realistic to consider. As the noble Baroness has pointed out, the products are used very widely. If we go back 30 years it was quite unusual for people to dye their hair. Now I would say that the vast majority of women—certainly mature women—and an increasingly large number of men do so.
Allergies of all sorts are common. For example, we do not consider banning peanuts or shellfish, although nut and shellfish allergies are very common. The danger with all allergies is that something that might upset you slightly to begin with—in this case, it might give you a sore scalp—several usages on could provoke a serious allergic reaction because it is an accumulation of reaction and sensitivity. I agree with the noble Baroness that the key issue is information. Going back to the nuts and the shellfish, menus and lists of contents warn of those products clearly now. We are even verbally warned or questioned in restaurants by staff who say, “This might have nuts in it”. Public awareness is quite strong in that field. As always, when preparing for a debate, I asked around about PPD among friends and people I know. They were blissfully unaware of the issue. They realised that sometimes people can have a sore scalp, but they did not realise that it was a potentially serious allergic reaction. A great deal more can be done to raise awareness, so I want to pose some questions to the Minister.
Do the Government keep records of how many people are affected by this, especially those who have had a very serious reaction? What consideration have the Government given to responding to this, to educate and spread information and awareness, especially among hairdressers? A lot of people use home kits, but most people at some point go to the hairdresser. Even if they dye their hair at home, they usually have it cut at the hairdresser, who would be ideal for passing on this information. When hairdressers are trained in colleges and so on, this key information could be given to them.
Is there any scope for regulations on the instructions on the kits—the packets of dye themselves? The noble Baroness has pointed out that they are often very confusing; they are written in a language that ordinary, non-scientists do not understand. But the print is also very small and often written against a dark background, so they are terribly difficult to see. The instructions about putting it on your head for half an hour, or whatever, will be quite large but the health warning is often at the bottom in very small print. Can the Government do anything to ensure that the warnings are made very much larger? Work is going on to replace PPD. Are the Government aware of how quickly that might bear some fruit? Might we have products on the market that do the same job as permanent hair dye that do not contain PPD?
I come to the other issue of temporary tattoos, which is really the most dangerous aspect of this. Although it is illegal to use PPD in temporary tattoos, it is being used, probably out of ignorance to a certain extent, and certainly because it is not a greatly regulated area of activity. Ironically, people often go for temporary tattoos because they are worried about the dangers of having a permanent one. They might be opting for something even more dangerous without realising it. Is there a possibility for the Government to spread awareness of this and to give a little more publicity, so that people going for temporary tattoos will ask about the contents and are aware of the possibility of an allergic reaction? I once again thank the noble Baroness for introducing this subject for debate today.