Johnson & Johnson will begin utilizing cornstarch in all the newborn powder it sells around the globe, shifting away from the talcum powder that put the favored product on the middle of tens of hundreds of lawsuits filed by clients.
The corporate discontinued North American gross sales of its talc-based child powder in 2020 after recalling some bottles in 2019, however will cease gross sales of the product globally in 2023, it mentioned on Thursday. Johnson & Johnson mentioned it was already promoting child powder utilizing cornstarch in nations around the globe.
Greater than 40,000 lawsuits, many from ladies with ovarian most cancers or mesothelioma, have accused Johnson & Johnson of promoting talc child powder whereas being conscious of its hyperlinks to well being dangers, akin to doable asbestos contamination.
The corporate mentioned the choice to maneuver to cornstarch was a part of a steady analysis of its portfolio and would assist simplify its product choices and meet “evolving international developments.” It additionally reiterated its place on child powder’s security: “We stand firmly behind the many years of unbiased scientific evaluation by medical consultants around the globe that confirms talc-based Johnson’s Child Powder is secure, doesn’t include asbestos and doesn’t trigger most cancers.”
Johnson & Johnson has bought cornstarch child powder for many years, growing the model of the product in 1980 after shopper advocates raised issues that talc contained traces of asbestos, a carcinogen. The corporate didn’t instantly reply to questions on how a lot talc child powder remained available on the market.
“It’s type of the no-brainer resolution,” mentioned Alex Scranton, director of science and analysis on the environmental advocacy group Ladies’s Voices for the Earth. She famous that cornstarch was cheap, straightforward to acquire, and free from talc’s “poisonous profile” and issues about asbestos contamination.
Ladies’s Voices for the Earth was one in every of practically 200 organizations that participated in a marketing campaign, led by Black Ladies for Wellness, to strain Johnson & Johnson to strip talc-based merchandise from cabinets worldwide.
Janette Robinson Flint, govt director of Black Ladies for Wellness, mentioned she was celebrating the information.
“We took on a large company, and we fought and we gained,” she mentioned. “After they mentioned they took it off the market in North America, they didn’t actually take it off the market — they only modified the market. They took it out of high-end shops however saved it at 99-cent shops.”
In April, Johnson & Johnson’s shareholders voted in opposition to a proposal to cease gross sales of the talc child powder in international markets akin to Asia and South America — a request that had been fueled by concern concerning the firm’s authorized and reputational woes. Final yr, the corporate confronted $1.6 billion in talc-related litigation bills and had put aside $3.9 billion the earlier yr. Popularity monitoring corporations mentioned Johnson & Johnson’s once-pristine title had been tarnished amongst customers by the accusations round talc.
Talc-based merchandise account for a tiny sliver of Johnson & Johnson’s gross sales of shopper merchandise, which additionally embody Band-Support bandages and Listerine mouthwash, however are liable for an unlimited portion of its authorized complications. In a single talc case, Johnson & Johnson was ordered to pay $4.69 billion to 22 plaintiffs in one of many largest personal-injury verdicts ever.
The corporate has tried to restrict its authorized publicity by way of an elaborate company pirouette referred to as the Texas Two-Step. In February, a chapter choose in New Jersey cleared the corporate to maneuver forward with the maneuver, which will get its title from a foxtrot-inspired dance model and derives its convoluted construction from a quirk of Texas enterprise legislation.
The reorganization course of, which entails partitioning off belongings and sealing them away from collectors, has been tried solely a handful of occasions since being conceived in 1989, largely by firms dealing with asbestos publicity claims. If profitable, it may defend Johnson & Johnson from billions of {dollars} in authorized claims whereas additionally demonstrating an escape route for different firms swamped with private damage litigation.
The gambit has put the Johnson & Johnson talc lawsuits in stasis and will depart claimants, a few of whom are extraordinarily sick, with a smaller pot of funds for payouts. Plaintiffs’ legal professionals have filed an attraction to attempt to cease the maneuver and mentioned the subsequent listening to is scheduled for September.
“After many years of promoting talc-based merchandise the corporate knew may trigger lethal cancers to unsuspecting ladies and men, J.&J. has lastly finished the best factor,” mentioned Leigh O’Dell, one of many plaintiffs’ legal professionals.
