Johnson & Johnson will stop selling its talcum-based baby powder worldwide and exchange the product with its current cornstarch model beginning subsequent 12 months, the patron merchandise big said late on Thursday.
The transfer comes after 1000’s of lawsuits from ladies lately who claimed utilizing the powder gave them both ovarian most cancers or mesothelioma, a most cancers that strikes the lungs and different organs. The firm insists, and medical analysis on talc additionally signifies, that the baby powder is protected and would not trigger most cancers.
Johnson & Johnson determined to drag the product on account of “misleading talc litigation advertising that caused global confusion and unfounded concern,” an organization spokeswoman mentioned.
The New Jersey firm mentioned demand for its talc powder has declined, which additionally prompted the change. Company officers mentioned the transfer will simplify Johnson & Johnson’s product choice and meet evolving international developments.
Johnson & Johnson stopped selling its talc-based baby powder within the U.S. and Canada in 2020.
Last summer time, a gaggle of Black ladies filed a lawsuit in opposition to Johnson & Johnson, claiming the corporate marketed its baby powder to Black ladies for many years regardless of understanding it had components that might trigger ovarian most cancers. That lawsuit — from the National Council of Negro Women — comes roughly three years after a Missouri court docket ordered Johnson & Johnson to pay $4.7 billion in damages to ladies in an analogous case. That quantity was later diminished to $2.1 billion.
Talcum is a mineral related in construction to asbestos, which is thought to trigger most cancers, and they’re typically obtained from the identical mines.Â
In 2020, the corporate recalled 33,000 bottles of the baby powder after FDA regulators discovered a small quantity of asbestos in a bottle bought on-line. Later that 12 months, Johnson & Johnson mentioned that 15 exams of the identical bottle of baby powder carried out by two laboratories employed by the corporate discovered no asbestos.Â
A U.S. government-led analysis of 250,000 ladies, the biggest such examine to take a look at the query, discovered no robust proof linking baby powder with ovarian most cancers, though the lead creator of the evaluation known as the outcomes “very ambiguous.”
Last fall, the corporate created a derivative subsidiary named LTL Management to handle all its talc lawsuit claims. LTL Management later filed for Chapter 11 chapter in a transfer that some imagine was designed to delay settlements from the assorted lawsuits. Johnson & Johnson mentioned it funneled about $2 billion right into a belief fund created to pay claims the chapter court docket determines that it owes.
Johnson & Johnson additionally mentioned final fall that it could flip its shopper well being enterprise — which bought the baby powder, Band-Aid bandages and different merchandise — right into a separate publicly traded firm. The a part of the corporate selling pharmaceuticals and medical gadgets will hold the J&J title.
Shares of Johnson & Johnson fell almost 1% in early morning buying and selling Friday, to about $165 every. Still, the inventory has carried out higher than the Dow Jones Industrial Average, of which J&J is a member, for many of this 12 months.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.Â
