Johnson and Johnson Double Their Talc Liability Reserve Fueling Settlement Rumors

Baby Powder cancer victims could expect settlement offers before their cases go to trial

Friday, February 26, 2021 - Johnson and Johnson face more than 25000 lawsuits in 2021 from plaintiffs accusing them of knowing their talc supply was contaminated with asbestos and neglecting to warn them. As a contingency to satisfy future claims, the company has increased its monetary reserves from 2$ billion to 4 billion dollars, considerably more than the $400 million it set aside in 2019. Johnson's Baby Powder trial will resume this year with plaintiff expert witnesses testifying that they have allegedly found asbestos in nearly every bottle of Johnson's Baby Powder they tested. The Food and Drug Administration tested and found asbestos in bottles of Johnson's Baby Powder they purchased from US retailers Walmart, CVS, and Rite Aid. Scientists have signed affidavits and testified under oath before Congress that talc increases a woman's risk of getting ovarian cancer. Johnson's Baby Powder attorneys are continuing to interview prospective clients that have used the product in various ways, regularly and for many years, and have developed ovarian cancer or mesothelioma.

Johnson and Johnson suffered a pair of setbacks in 2020 despite most trials being postponed until the COVID-19 pandemic was brought under control. The company settled 1000 of the more than 25000 cases against them for a lump sum of $100 million. The settlement fueled speculation that last-minute settlement offers may be made before trials begin this year. The company also made the startling announcement that they had discontinued selling the iconic Johnson's Baby Powder brand in the United States and Canada after the FDA's talc asbestos revelation. For the record, the company continues to tell the public that Johnson's Baby Powder talc is safe, pure, and asbestos-free.

According to Reuters, the company sees the handwriting on the wall. "Johnson & Johnson has faced intense scrutiny over the safety of its baby powder following a 2018 Reuters report that found it knew for decades about asbestos in the talc. Internal company records, trial testimony, and other evidence show that from at least 1971 to the early 2000s, J&J's raw talc and finished powders sometimes tested positive for small amounts of asbestos." And to set the record straight, there is no such thing as an insignificant amount of asbestos, because experts agree that there is no safe amount of ingesting asbestos and even a microscopically small particle could lead to cancer or mesothelioma many years later. The company's talc supplier Imerys Inc. was forced into bankruptcy in 2019 after being crushed under an avalanche of lawsuits. Imerys was the sole North American talc supplier for Johnson and Johnson's and many other cosmetics companies and has been named as Co-defendants in thousands of talc asbestos cancer lawsuits. Imerys has sold its North American talc mining operations and set hundreds of millions aside to satisfy future legal judgments. The above is a small sampling of the mountain of evidence pointing to the company's willful neglect of consumer safety as more reason to expect multi-million dollar settlements to be proferred in 2021.