New scientific evidence suggests that long-term, regular use of hair dye may be associated with bladder cancer.

As a result, the European Commission has moved to restrict certain products in hair dye on safety grounds.

An estimated 60 per cent of women and about 10 per cent of men colour their hair regularly and sales of hair dye products in the EU are worth billions of euro.

EU rules have so far banned the use of 180 substances in hair dye and restricted another 52.

Today’s proposal adds another 24 products to the list of restricted products.