Johnson & Johnson will stop selling baby powder over alleged ‘cancer risk’

JoHNSoN & Johnson will stop selling its talc-based baby powder next year as it fights thousands of lawsuits over alleged asbestos contamination. The healthcare giant ended sales of talc powder in the US two years ago but is now withdrawing it entirely from shelves worldwide. It is facing 38,000 lawsuits in America over claims its talc products caused cancer due to the presence of asbestos, a carcinogen. J&J denies the allegations, saying decades of scientific testing and regulatory approvals have shown its talc to be safe and asbestosfree. It reiterated that denial as it announced the total discontinuation of talc powder, which first went on sale in 1894. In 2020, J&J claimed it was ending sales of baby powder in the US and Canada because demand had fallen in the wake of ‘misinformation’. It said in a statement on Thursday: ‘As part of a worldwide portfolio assessment, we have made the commercial decision to transition to an all cornstarch-based baby powder portfolio.’ In october, J&J created the subsidiary LTL Management, assigned its talc claims to it and immediately placed it into bankruptcy. This paused the lawsuits. Ben Whiting, an attorney for the plaintiffs, said if the cases were allowed to move forward, the claimants could try to use J&J’s decision to pull the products as evidence.

Before the bankruptcy filing, J&J faced costs of £2.9billion in verdicts and settlements.

In 2016, in the first such award, the company was ordered to pay £51million in damages to the family of Jacqueline Fox, from Birmingham, Alabama, whose death from ovarian cancer was linked to her use of its talc-based products.

Talc is mined from the earth and is found in seams close to asbestos.