The FDA Will Require New And Stricter Talc/Asbestos Testing Method

A newly-formed multi-agency working group has had enough of the 1970s asbestos testing protocols used by the cosmetics industry

Wednesday, January 19, 2022 - There have been exciting, breakthrough developments from the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) last week establishing standards to test cosmetic talc for asbestos, a known carcinogen. Talc is also suspected of causing ovarian cancer because it is an innate mineral that does not break down and can become lodged in the ovaries and create levels of oxidative stress and irritation leading to cancer. The FDA created the "Interagency Working Group on Asbestos in Consumer Products (IWGACP)" to establish talc testing standards that would be required to be used by the entire cosmetics industry. Incredibly fortunate for those who believe that the industry has dropped the ball and put company profits ahead of the health and safety of their clients, the newly-appointed director's first statement was damning for companies like Johnson & Johnson, Colgate Palmolive, Revlon, and many others. MesotheliomaGuide.com reports that Susan Mayne, Director of the FDA's Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition, told reporters, "We have become aware that methods employed by some industry members to test for asbestos in talc-containing cosmetic products may not always detect the presence of asbestos. () That's why an interagency working group sought to take a state-of-the-science look at available methods." Johnson & Johnson have forever resisted placing a talcum powder cancer warning on bottles of Johnsons Baby Powder.

At the core of the newly-formed group's efforts will be to insist cosmetics companies update their talc asbestos testing methods that seldom found asbestos, to a more modern method that regularly finds the carcinogenic material. The IWG will require companies to replace their outdated Polarized Light Microscopy (PLM) testing method adopted in the 1970s, with the Transmission Electron Microscopy (TEM), made popular in the legal community by plaintiff expert witness Dr. William Longo. The TEM has repeatedly found asbestos fibers in the talc samples that were labeled negative by PLM.

The formation and requirements of the IWG serve as a stern follow-up to the FDA's 2018 talc asbestos testing using TEM and finding particles of asbestos in bottles of Johnson's Baby Powder purchases from retail stores like Walmart, Rite Aid, and CVS. The findings prompted Johnson & Johnson to discontinue selling their iconic baby powder in the United States and Canada. The FDA announced that they would begin testing randomly-selected samples of cosmetics, Beaty, and baby care products annually. This resulted in a reduction from 17% to 0 cases of finding asbestos, a very welcome statistic for mothers who relied on talcum powder to diaper their infant. Johnson & Johnson has resorted to a last-ditch effort to save their company tens of billions of dollars in legal costs by creating a separate company called LTL Management, and placing their 40,000 or so talcum powder ovarian cancer cases in it along with $2 billion. The new company is now looking for bankruptcy protection from women with talcum powder ovarian cancer. It is unsure if the company will get away with the Texas Two-Step legal maneuver and plaintiff attorneys feel that it is illegal and beyond the scope that bankruptcy protection was designed to offer.

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