Reuters
Investigates,
14 December 2018:
Facing thousands of
lawsuits alleging that its talc caused cancer, J&J insists on the safety
and purity of its iconic product. But internal documents examined by Reuters
show that the company's powder was sometimes tainted with carcinogenic asbestos
and that J&J kept that information from regulators and the public….
J&J didn’t tell the
FDA that at least three tests by three different labs from 1972 to 1975 had
found asbestos in its talc – in one case at levels reported as “rather high.”……
…J&J has been
compelled to share thousands of pages of company memos, internal reports and
other confidential documents with lawyers for some of the 11,700 plaintiffs now
claiming that the company’s talc caused their cancers — including thousands of
women with ovarian cancer.
A Reuters examination of
many of those documents, as well as deposition and trial testimony, shows
that from at least 1971 to the early 2000s, the company’s raw talc
and finished powders sometimes tested positive for small amounts of asbestos,
and that company executives, mine managers, scientists, doctors and lawyers
fretted over the problem and how to address it while failing to disclose
it to regulators or the public.
The documents also
depict successful efforts to influence U.S. regulators’ plans to
limit asbestos in cosmetic talc products and scientific
research on the health effects of talc.
A small portion of the
documents have been produced at trial and cited in media reports. Many were
shielded from public view by court orders that allowed J&J to turn over
thousands of documents it designated as confidential. Much of their
contents is reported here for the first time……
The World Health
Organization and other authorities recognize no safe level of exposure to
asbestos. While most people exposed never develop cancer, for some, even small
amounts of asbestos are enough to trigger the disease years later…..
What J&J produced in
response to those demands has allowed plaintiffs’ lawyers to refine their
argument: The culprit wasn’t necessarily talc itself, but also asbestos in the
talc. That assertion, backed by decades of solid science showing that asbestos
causes mesothelioma and is associated with ovarian and other cancers, has had
mixed success in court.
In two cases earlier
this year – in New Jersey and California – juries awarded big sums to
plaintiffs who, like Coker, blamed asbestos-tainted J&J talc products for
their mesothelioma.
A third verdict, in St.
Louis, was a watershed, broadening J&J’s potential liability: The 22
plaintiffs were the first to succeed with a claim that asbestos-tainted Baby
Powder and Shower to Shower talc, a longtime brand the company sold in 2012,
caused ovarian cancer, which is much more common than mesothelioma. The jury
awarded them $4.69 billion in damages. Most of the talc cases have been brought
by women with ovarian cancer who say they regularly used J&J talc products
as a perineal antiperspirant and deodorant.
At the same time, at
least three juries have rejected claims that Baby Powder was tainted with
asbestos or caused plaintiffs’ mesothelioma. Others have failed to reach
verdicts, resulting in mistrials.
J&J has said it will
appeal the recent verdicts against it. It has maintained in public statements
that its talc is safe, as shown for years by the best tests available, and that
the information it has been required to divulge in recent litigation shows the
care the company takes to ensure its products are asbestos-free. It has blamed
its losses on juror confusion, “junk” science, unfair court rules and
overzealous lawyers looking for a fresh pool of asbestos plaintiffs…..
Read the full
article here.
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