Posted with permission from Fairwarning.org:

Tainted love: Johnson & Johnson recalled 33,000 bottles of baby powder after the Food and Drug Administration found asbestos in one container, The New York Times reports. The company, which once marketed its baby, body, and wellness products as being “for all you love,” has long denied that its talc-based products ever contained cancer-causing asbestos, but it faces more than 15,000 lawsuits from customers who say their products caused them to develop ovarian cancer or mesothelioma, a rare cancer linked to asbestos.

The finding of trace levels of asbestos in one lot of the powder could weigh against J&J in court. As FairWarning previously reported, internal documents show that the company knew of the risk of contamination from naturally occurring asbestos in talc deposits mined for use in baby powder and other products. Reuters and The New York Times have also reported on Johnson & Johnson’s attempts to conceal the risks of asbestos contamination from the public.

According to The Wall Street Journal, the company faces more than 100,000 lawsuits over product and consumer safety in all, including: 15,500 for talc products; 13,400 for the anti-psychotic drug Risperdal; 24,800 for personal injuries related to pelvic mesh devices; and 2,000 opioid-related lawsuits.

About FairWarning

This story was reported by FairWarning (www.fairwarning.org), a nonprofit news organization based in Pasadena, Calif., that focuses on public health, safety and environmental issues.