Lawsuits against the company have stacked up over several years, currently totaling more than 19,000.
Rabat – Multinational healthcare giant Johnson & Johnson has halted sales of its baby powder in the US and Canada after losing legal battles over claims the talcum-based product causes cancer. The potentially hazardous product will, however, remain on shelves across the rest of the world.
Separate investigations by Reuters and the New York Times revealed in December 2018 that the company’s raw talc and finished powders sometimes tested positive for small amounts of asbestos from at least 1971 to the early 2000s.
“Company executives, mine managers, scientists, doctors, and lawyers fretted over the problem and how to address it while failing to disclose it to regulators or the public,” Reuters reported.
Asbestos, a group of fibrous minerals, can occur naturally underground near talc deposits. Exposure to asbestos causes several cancers and diseases as it breaks down and lodges in the lung tissue, causing inflammation, scarring, and genetic damage over a span of decades. The carcinogen can possibly lead to lung cancer, asbestosis, and mesothelioma, a rare and aggressive cancer.
Mesothelioma is almost exclusively caused by asbestos exposure, commonly afflicting men working in mines and industries that used asbestos for insulation purposes before its risks were fully understood. When individuals who had not been exposed to asbestos—as far as they knew—began developing mesothelioma and other health issues, doctors pointed to Johnson & Johnson’s beloved baby powder.
Consistent legal battles
Lawsuits against the company have stacked up over several years, currently totaling more than 19,000.
After years of attempting to reassure consumers of the safety of talc, the American company finally succumbed to lost legal battles and billion-dollar payouts that clouded its baby powder sales. Still denying allegations that the powder is responsible for health problems, Johnson & Johnson announced the discontinuation of the product in the US and Canada on May 19.
“Demand for talc-based Johnson’s Baby Powder in North America has been declining due in large part to changes in consumer habits and fueled by misinformation around the safety of the product and a constant barrage of litigation advertising,” Johnson & Johnson said in a statement.
Denying the veracity of the baby powder’s alleged health risks, they added: “Decades of scientific studies by medical experts around the world support the safety of our product. We will continue to vigorously defend the product, its safety, and the unfounded allegations against it and the Company in the courtroom. All verdicts against the Company that have been through the appeals process have been overturned.”
Johnson & Johnson is currently appealing a 2018 decision from a St. Louis, Missouri jury. The court ordered the company to pay $4.7 billion in damages to 22 women and their families who say the powder contributed to their ovarian cancer. Another lawsuit granted a $29 million award to a woman in California who says the company’s baby powder caused her to develop mesothelioma.
What about the rest of the world?
The discontinuation is only effective in the US and Canada, leaving consumers in the rest of the world at risk.
The parent company and its subsidiaries have approximately 132,200 employees engaged in the research and development, manufacture, and sale of a broad range of products in virtually all countries worldwide.
With Johnson & Johnson’s official statement shutting down allegations of health risks, it is unlikely international offices will issue formal statements warning consumers of the controversy surrounding the baby powder or address concerns regarding the safety of talc.
Consumers who are uninformed of the potential health hazards will undoubtedly continue to purchase the popular product, and those in the developing world without access to resources on the issue face an even greater information gap.
Johnson & Johnson has two companies in its Middle East family with headquarters in Dubai and offices in Egypt, Lebanon, Morocco, and Algeria. The Middle East branch regurgitated the company’s official statement in response to Morocco World News’ request for comment.
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