Johnson and Johnson will stop selling baby powder by 2023
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In the midst of an image crisis and a sea of ​​million-dollar lawsuits and litigation, Johnson & Johnson announced that it will finally stop selling its talcum powder worldwide, after complaints associating it with cancer cases
Johnson & Johnson confirmed that it will stop selling its baby talcum powder worldwide and that this input will be replaced by corn starch.
Talcum powder for babies has been one of the biggest problems for the company , leaving it with a sea of ​​lawsuits filed by customers who say it is linked to cancer cases.
Johnson & Johnson had already stopped selling the talc in the North American region in 2020; however, outside this area, talcum powder was still for sale.
Last April, Johnson & Johnson shareholders even voted against a proposal to stop selling talcum powder in the Asian and South American markets , despite the health risks it has caused. been sued.
The center of the lawsuits charges that Johnson & Johnson sold talcum powder, allegedly contaminated with asbestos, a precursor to cancer, even though it knew the product had health consequences .
To date, the company faces more than 40,000 consumer lawsuits , some of them brought by women with ovarian cancer and mesothelioma, over the sale of the product.
Last year alone, Johnson & Johnson faced lawsuits that left it with $1.6 billion in litigation expenses related to baby powder.
According to a report by The New York Times , the company has a reserve of $3.9 billion additional dollars for lawsuits that may arise from this same issue.
The cascade of million-dollar lawsuits led the company to finally make the decision to suspend the sale of talcum powder containers by 2023 worldwide and replace it with corn starch.
However, the company does not recognize this and assures that it is a decision that results from the evaluation of its products that helps them “meet evolving global trends.”
Johnson & Johnson also does not acknowledge that its talcum powder product is linked to cancer cases , as hundreds of people who have sued the company claim.
“We strongly support the decades of independent scientific analysis by medical experts around the world confirming that Johnson's talc-based Baby Powder is safe, contains no asbestos, and does not cause cancer ,” the company said.
Consumer complaints about the alleged presence of asbestos in Johnson & Johnson's baby powder have been public since 1980, by various consumer advocacy groups.