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Johnson & Johnson to shelve talcum baby powder suspected in cancer
View(s):By Kapila Bandara
Baby talcum powder made by Johnson & Johnson, suspected to cause cancer and which had led to multi-billion-dollar lawsuits in the United States, will no longer be available worldwide from next year.
Mothers in Sri Lanka who are drawn to the scent, still use the talc-based powder in the belief it prevents nappy rash.
The American healthcare heavyweight announced Thursday, that “talc-based Johnson’s Baby Powder will be discontinued globally in 2023’’ and “an all cornstarch-based baby powder portfolio’’ will be launched.
The Brunswick, New Jersey company also said in the statement: “Cornstarch-based Johnson’s Baby Powder is already sold in countries around the world.’’ 
Johnson & Johnson said its “position on the safety of our cosmetic talc remains unchanged. We stand firmly behind the decades of independent scientific analysis by medical experts around the world that confirms talc-based Johnson’s Baby Powder is safe, does not contain asbestos, and does not cause cancer.”
In 2020, Johnson & Johnson stopped selling talc-based baby powder in the United States and Canada.
In the United States, Johnson & Johnson has faced lawsuits from tens of thousands of litigants, and paid multi-billion-dollar damages related to cancer.
The company has often denied the cancer claims and insisted the baby powder is safe and free from asbestos.
In June, 2020, an appeals court in Missouri in the United States ordered Johnson & Johnson and a subsidiary to pay US$2.1 billion in damages to women who blamed their ovarian cancers on Johnson and Johnson talcum products, including baby powder, a report from the New York Times said. The decision slashed by more than half a record award of US$4.69 billion in compensatory and punitive damages to the women, which was made in July 2018.
The NYT reported a spokeswoman as saying that Johnson & Johnson would seek further review of the ruling by the Supreme Court of Missouri and defended its talcum products as safe.
“We continue to believe this was a fundamentally flawed trial, grounded in a faulty presentation of the facts,” Kim Montagnino, the spokeswoman, said. “We remain confident that our talc is safe, asbestos free and does not cause cancer.”
Mark Lanier, the lawyer who represented the plaintiffs, urged consumers to discard any baby powder they had in their homes.
Six plaintiffs in the case died before the trial started, and five more women have died since the jury trial ended in 2018, he said.
In its decision, the appellate court noted that the company’s internal memorandums from as far back as the 1960s indicated that its talcum products — referred to as the “golden egg,” “company trust-mark” and “sacred cow” — contained asbestos, and that the mineral could be dangerous.
“A reasonable inference from all this evidence is that, motivated by profits, defendants disregarded the safety of consumers despite their knowledge the talc in their products caused ovarian cancer,” the court said.
The NYT reported that the plaintiffs “showed clear and convincing evidence defendants engaged in conduct that was outrageous because of evil motive or reckless indifference,” the court said.
The court awarded US$500 million in actual damages and US$1.62 billion in punitive damages, reducing the original award of US$550 million in compensatory damages and US$4.14 billion in punitive damages after dismissing claims by some of the plaintiffs.
Johnson & Johnson has argued that faulty testing methods and shoddy science were responsible for findings of asbestos in its products. But thousands of people — mostly women with ovarian cancer — have sued, saying they were never warned of the potential risks, the NYT reported.
The main ingredient in baby powder was talc, a natural mineral known for its softness.
In 1980, after US consumer advocates raised concerns that talc contained traces of asbestos, an infamous carcinogen, the company developed an alternative powder made from cornstarch.
Though talcum powder has been promoted as soft and gentle enough for babies, and is sold with other infant products in stores, adult women have long been the main purchasers, using baby powder in pubic areas and to prevent chafing between the legs. Early lawsuits against Johnson & Johnson pointed to talc as a cause of ovarian cancer, though the scientific evidence was not conclusive. In later cases, plaintiffs’ lawyers zeroed in on asbestos contamination, saying the carcinogen could cause cancer even in trace amounts, the NYT reported.
The NYT also has reported that talc and asbestos are natural minerals, and underground deposits develop under similar geological conditions. As a result, veins of asbestos may crisscross talc deposits in mines.
Indeed, internal memos unearthed during litigation revealed that Johnson & Johnson had been concerned about the possibility of asbestos contamination in its talc for at least 50 years. Asbestos was first linked to ovarian cancer in 1958, and the International Agency for Research on Cancer affirmed it was a cause of the cancer in a 2011 report, the NYT said.
In June 2021, the Supreme Court of the United States decided against hearing an appeal by Johnson & Johnson over an award of US$2.1b in damages in Missouri.
(https://www.supremecourt.gov/orders/courtorders/060121zor_e1p3.pdf)
In 2018, an investigation by Reuters citing company records and evidence at trials, revealed that from about 1971 to early 2000s, Johnson & Johnson had known that its talc products had traces of asbestos.
| NMRA silent In Sri Lanka, more than 12 calls made to the National Medicines Regulatory Authority on Friday went unanswered between about 11 am and 2.10 pm in Colombo. One number for Sri Lankans to report adverse reactions to medicines, was unreachable and engaged for long time. The same number is for inquiries on cosmetics. Johnson & Johnson baby products are freely available in Sri Lanka at online and street-side retailers, pharmacies, and all manner of supermarkets, including those run by the dominant players. The Sunday Times sought to find out from the corruption-accused regulator whether the Johnson baby powder bought by unsuspecting mothers in Sri Lanka is cornstarch-based. Asked about exports and distribution in Sri Lanka, a Communications & Public Affairs person for Johnson & Johnson, India, said in an email on Friday: “At this point we don’t have anything more to add to the statement.’’ | |
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