Friday, December 14, 2018

Borrowing From Big Tobacco's Playbook, Johnson & Johnson Knew About Asbestos in Baby Powder for Decades: Reuters




A new Reuters investigation charges that Johnson & Johnson knew for decades that its iconic talcum baby powder "was sometimes tainted with carcinogenic asbestos," but concealed the information.



Borrowing From Big Tobacco's Playbook, Johnson & Johnson Knew About Asbestos in Baby Powder for Decades: Reuters


One attorney said 1970s memos that have surfaced due to recent lawsuits are "on par with key docs uncovered in the tobacco litigation."

Published on
by
Reuters investigation published Friday charges 
that Johnson & Johnson, a multi-billion dollar 
company known for its healthcare products, 
knew for decades that its iconic talcum baby 
powder "was sometimes 
tainted with carcinogenic asbestos," but concealed 
the information from regulators and the public.


that from at least 1971 to the early 2000s, the company's raw 
talc and finished powders sometimes tested positive for small 
amounts of asbestos, and that 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.
The documents also depict successful efforts to influence U.S. 
regulators' plans to limit asbestos in cosmetic talc products 
and scientific research on the health effects of talc.
While, over the past two decades, 

some legal challenges claiming that


Johnson & Johnson products were tainted 

with asbestos and caused 

cancer have been unsuccessful, 

three recent developments seem to

 signal a shift. A pair of cases in New 

Jersey and California saw 

significant awards for mesothelioma patients, 

and a "watershed"

 verdict in St. Louis expanded the company's 

potential liability.


Outlining the St. Louis case, Reuters explained:
The 22 plaintiffs were the first to succeed with a claim that 
asbestos-tainted Baby Powder and Shower to Shower talc, a 
longtime brand the company sold in 2012, caused ovarian 
cancer, which is much more common than mesothelioma.

The jury awarded them $4.69 billion in damages. Most of the 
talc 
cases have been brought by women with ovarian cancer who 
say they regularly used J&J talc products as a perineal 
antiperspirant and deodorant.
"When people really understand what's going on," 

said Mark Lanier, an attorney for one of the 

plaintiffs,  "I think it increases J&J's exposure a

 thousand-fold."


Johnson & Johnson, as Reuters noted, "has 

dominated the talc powder 

market for more than 100 years, its sales 

outpacing those of all 

competitors combined... And while talc 

products contributed just $420 

million to J&J's $76.5 billion in revenue last 

year, Baby Powder is 

considered an essential facet of the 

healthcare-products maker's

 carefully 

tended image as a caring company—a 

'sacred cow,' as one 2003 internal

 email put it."



Another attorney who's not tied to the cases 

against Johnson & 


that the 1970s memos mentioned 

in Reuters' report are "on par with key 

docs uncovered in the tobacco 

litigation."


Journalist Eoin Higgins, also responding 

on Twitter, simply said: "What a 

story. What the fuck."



Johnson & Johnson, meanwhile, 

has vowed to appeal all verdicts against 

it and maintains that its products are safe. 


The company's vice president 

of global media relations, Ernie Knewitz, 

wrote in an email to Reuters:

Plaintiffs attorneys out for personal 
financial gain are distorting 
historical documents and intentionally 
creating confusion in the 
courtroom and in the media...


This is all a calculated attempt to 
distract from the fact that thousands 
of independent tests prove 
our talc does not contain asbestos 
or cause cancer. Any 
suggestion that Johnson & Johnson 
knew or hid information 
about the safety of talc is false.
Following the report, the publicly traded 

company's shares plummeted by

more than 11 percent.





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