J&J faces criminal investigation over baby powder’s potential cancer risks
The
U.S. Justice Department is pursuing a criminal investigation into
whether Johnson & Johnson lied to the public about the possible
cancer risks of its talcum powder, people with knowledge of the matter
said.raw Testosterone decanoate powder
The criminal probe, which hasn’t been reported previously, coincides with a regulatory investigation and civil claims by thousands of cancer patients that Johnson’s Baby Powder was responsible for their illness. Now, a grand jury in Washington is examining documents related to what company officials knew about any carcinogens in their products, the people said.
Baby powder accounts for only a tiny fraction of
J&J’s annual revenue, but it has been a core member of the company’s
product roster for more than a century. Questions about its safety have
led to more than 14,000 lawsuits from consumers asserting that the
company’s talc products caused their ovarian cancer or mesothelioma, a
rare form of the disease linked to asbestos exposure.
J&J
disclosed in February that it had received subpoenas, but little was
known then about the investigation behind them, including whether the
matter was civil or criminal. The filing didn’t mention a grand jury.
The company said in a statement Friday that there had been no new developments. “We have been fully cooperating with the previously disclosed DOJ investigation and will continue to do so,” J&J spokeswoman Kim Montagnino said. “Johnson’s Baby Powder does not contain asbestos or cause cancer, as supported by decades of independent clinical evidence.”
J&J, the world’s largest maker of healthcare products, has said safety tests of its baby powder over many decades have shown no presence of asbestos. But some of the lawsuits have turned up internal memos from as far back as the 1960s and ’70s that contain warnings from company scientists that asbestos detected in J&J’s talc was a “severe health hazard” that could pose a legal risk for the company.
