Johnson & Johnson Tests Show Talcum Powder Asbestos-Free

The FDA stands behind its original assessment of its talc asbestos findings

Monday, November 4, 2019 - Johnson & Johnson conducted tests of their own to refute the findings of the US Food and Drug Administration that Johnson's Baby Powder contains asbestos, a deadly carcinogen. The company is pleased to announce that their tests did not find any asbestos in the same samples tested by the FDA. The FDA countered JNJ's announcement with one of their own stating the obvious that the sample sizes of the JNJ tests were too small to rule out the presence of asbestos somewhere else in the entire bottle. According to the FDA "given the minuscule size of samples taken from a single bottle, different samples may yield different results." The infinitesimally small sample size only goes to bolster the FDA's asbestos claims because if they were able to find the asbestos needle in the haystack with such a small sample size, imagine if a greater number of samples were taken? As asbestos expert witness Dr. William Longo has stated, "when it comes to testing talc for the presence of asbestos, either it is there or it isn't." The fact that the FDA was able to find asbestos so easily points to the potential for a large amount of asbestos possibly being present in any particular bottle of baby powder.

According to Reuters the FDA continues to support the validity of their asbestos findings and stands behind JNJ's voluntary recall of the product. "They would say the product is free of asbestos based on their testing, and we would say the opposite for that sample," said Steve Musser, deputy director for scientific operations in the FDA's Center for Food Safety and Nutrition." Talcum powder asbestos cancer attorneys are experienced attorneys handling pharmaceutical litigations with a winning track record and offer a free consultation before filing a claim.

The FDA's talcum powder asbestos findings are not the first time that the agency has voiced concern for the possibility of asbestos in talc. A recent investigative report in Reuters told readers that "Johnson & Johnson knew for decades that asbestos lurked in its Baby Powder." The articles cite internal company memos where executives grappled with what to do with the increasing number of tests that were showing positive for asbestos. Company executives were more concerned with protecting baby powder's branded reputation for purity and safety than they were for the health and safety of their customers when the company fought the FDA's suggestion that a more sensitive testing method be employed to find smaller amounts of asbestos. "No mother was going to powder her baby with 1% of a known carcinogen regardless of the large safety factor," an FDA spokesperson said in describing JNJ's position on finding even the smallest level of asbestos in talc back in 1975, according to Reuters.

The FDA is not obligated to test cosmetic products for their safety before they are put on the market nor is the consumer watchdog agency able to force a cosmetic product recall on their own The testing of Johnson's Baby Powder came in the wake of billion-dollar jury awards made to plaintiffs that alleged their lifelong use of Johnson's Baby Powder and Shower to Shower products caused them to develop ovarian cancer and mesothelioma from inhaling asbestos-laden talc dust. When the FDA declared they had found small amounts of asbestos in Johnson's Baby Powder samples, Johnson & Johnson immediately recalled all 33,000 bottles in the batch citing that they were merely exercising "an abundance of caution." The next day Walmart, CVS, and Rite Aid removed all 22-oz. bottles of Johnson's Baby Powder lot #22318RB from their store shelves.