Emails Confirm That Johnson & Johnson Knew About Talcum Powder Asbestos Contamination

Johnson's Baby Powder talc has contained asbestos for the better part of half a century, and that the company covered it up

Tuesday, December 7, 2021 - I recently reviewed a piece in the Business Journal, written by Bloomberg that explained that Johnson & Johnson had interfered with the testing of Johnson's Baby Powder talc for the presence of asbestos and that the company lobbied through the Personal Care Products Council (PCPC) to make sure that the FDA never required an asbestos cancer warning label on Johnson's Baby Powder, and that the talcum powder cancer risk was downplayed. Emails between Johnson & Johnson and their talc mining supplier at that time were unsealed during a Mississippi Johnson's Baby Powder ovarian cancer trial indicating an asbestos cover-up going back at least 40 years. The emails revealed that Johnson & Johnson heavily influenced reports about talcum powder containing asbestos. Bloomberg reported, "While the practice of companies having a say in industry group submissions to the FDA isn't new or illegal, the emails reveal just how involved J&J got in a report meant to assess product safety -- down to selecting individual scientists to produce it and having them write an executive summary." The talcum powder cancer reports could be considered to be ghost-written. Talcum powder cancer lawsuits have risen exponentially over the last five years as more and more information about Johnson & Johnson's reprehensible corporate behavior is made public.

Lawsuits began in 2016 accusing Johnson's Baby Powder and Shower to Shower personal care products of causing ovarian cancer when used for feminine hygiene regularly and for many years. Lawsuits against J&J have risen from around 1000 in 2016 to over 39,000 today, and that may be just the beginning. Johnson & Johnson has resounded to the avalanche of litigation against them by discontinuing selling baby powder in North America and setting up a separate company to handle the legal end of the talcum powder business. The company seeks to force women with ovarian cancer, and people with mesothelioma into a quick settlement for a fraction of what they may have been awarded by a jury had their case made it to court. It appears that talcum powder asbestos lawyers now have the ammunition to prove that Johnson's Baby Powder talc has contained asbestos for the better part of half a century and that the company covered it up. About 10% of the cases currently against the company are by plaintiffs that have asbestosis, or mesothelioma, deadly scarring of the lungs caused by repeatedly inhaling asbestos-contaminated talcum powder dust. Many cases are by plaintiffs like barbers and beauticians that have repeatedly inhaled talcum powder dust during their work. What is most insidious, however, is that millions of mothers were using Johnson's Baby Powder several times per day when diapering their babies may have damaged their infant's health. Johnson & Johnson knew for more than half a century that the asbestos in talcum powder could damage children's lungs but promoted it to mothers anyway. God only knows how many lives have been cut short by the lung scarring caused by mothers using Johnson's Baby powder. Millions of Americans have died from lung-related diseases like emphysema, asthma, asbestosis, mesothelioma, and others that could have been avoided.

Information provided by TalcumPowderCancerLawsuit.com, a website devoted to providing news about talcum powder ovarian cancer lawsuits, as well as medical research and findings.