If there is a more horrifying scenario than taking a bottle containing asbestos, a known cancer causing agent, and liberally applying this to your infant or child it would be hard to imagine. Tragically the Johnson and Johnson baby powder lawsuit claims that this is exactly what tens of millions (or more) parents did for decades.
But it wasn’t just infants that used baby powder, as many adults used it intermittently and even daily.
According to the American Cancer Society talc, an ingredient used in Johnson and Johnson baby powder, can contain asbestos. The FDA (Food and Drug Administration) has found trace amounts of asbestos in a bottle purchased online. Perhaps even more shockingly, it seems that Johnson and Johnson knew about this for quite some time.
– In 1997 a memo from a JNJ consultant noted “a statistically significant association between hygienic talc use and ovarian cancer”, and the risk that the talc industry could come to be viewed in a similar way to the tobacco industry.
– In 2006, the World Health Organization found “use of talc-based body powder is possibly carcinogenic”. (At this point, JNJ’s talc supplier started to include this fact in the information it sends with every shipment. JNJ did not pass this information along.)
– Reuters report published in 2018 that claimed that from the early 1970’s right through to the early 2000’s, the companies raw talc and finished powder sometimes tested positive for small amounts of asbestos.
In addition to Johnson and Johnson’s Baby Powder another JNJ product (Shower to Shower gel), was also found to contain asbestos.
Lawsuits indicate that these products in fact did cause ovarian cancer, (which Miskin Law is part of a class action for). More recently we learned that these products (and the asbestos in them) can cause the deadly cancer Mesothelioma.
While Johnson and Johnson has argued that its products are safe, it has since removed all talc from their baby powder product.
In the states there have been hundreds of lawsuits, and billions awarded to victims. From this, Johnson and Johnson has spun the liability into a new corporation and are setting up a bankruptcy trust fund. This allows them to protect their main corporation by limiting damages to the fund which is where affected individuals can receive restitution from.
Now the next question our clients ask… are Canadians included in this?
Miskin Law is working now with lawyers across the US and Canada to see that Canadians get compensated. We are still accepting new clients for this case.