Silke Jasso
Johnson & Johnson has announced it will stop selling talc-based baby powder in the United States and Canada. The company stated the demand for the product had fallen in the wake of what they are calling “misinformation” about the product safety amid a barrel of its legal challenges. The company faces more than 19,000 lawsuits from consumers and their survivors, which claim it’s talc-products cause cancer due to asbestos contamination, which is a known carcinogen. Many of these cases are still pending before a district judge in New Jersey.
Videos by Rare
Through a statement, the company attributed the decline “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.” On Tuesday, the company noted that despite the lawsuits, they are confident in the safety of all of their products.
Johnson & Johnson will end sales of talc-based baby powder in North America after facing thousands of lawsuits from cancer patientshttps://t.co/4cUuu0N2Q8
— The New York Times (@nytimes) May 19, 2020
Speaking with CNBC, J&J stated,
“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.”
Johnson’s Baby Powder represents nearly 0.5% of the company’s total US sales in the consumer unit. The company relaunched its iconic namesake baby product line back in 2018 and J&J’s baby care unit. All those companies have been tested for decades, but the brand has fallen out of touch with consumers, especially young moms, who throughout the years have since opted for more natural products from start-up brands.
Johnson & Johnson said it would stop selling its talc-based Baby Powder in the U.S. and Canada as part of a reassessment due to COVID-19. The company faces lawsuits claiming its talc products cause cancer https://t.co/Imu63cL2GO pic.twitter.com/uV9WwF554G
— Reuters (@Reuters) May 20, 2020
Last year, the company recalled around 33,000 bottles of Baby Powder in the United States after the Food and Drug Administration stated they found trace amounts of asbestos from a bottle of that was purchased online.
J&J came back saying it indeed tested their Johnson’s Baby Powders and found no signs of asbestos contamination. The company will still sell its less popular cornstarch-based baby powder around the world.
