Johnson & Johnson will stop selling talcum-based baby powder globally

Johnson & Johnson will stop selling its talc-based baby powder worldwide and replace the product with its existing cornstarch version starting next year, the products giant said on Thursday of consumption

Movement comes later thousands of demands of women in recent years claiming that using the powder gave them ovarian cancer or mesothelioma, a cancer that affects the lungs and other organs. The company insists, and medical research on talc also indicates, that the baby powder is safe and does not cause cancer.

Johnson & Johnson decided to recall the product because of the “misleading advertising of talc litigation that caused global confusion and unfounded concern,” a company spokeswoman said.

The New Jersey company said demand for its talcum powder has declined, which also prompted the switch. Company officials said the move will simplify Johnson & Johnson’s product selection and meet evolving global trends.

Johnson & Johnson stopped selling its talcum-based baby powder in the US and Canada in 2020.

Last summer, a group of Black women filed a lawsuit against Johnson & Johnson, claiming the company marketed its baby powder to black women for decades despite knowing it contained ingredients that could cause ovarian cancer. This lawsuit, by the National Council of Black Women, comes roughly three years after a Missouri court ordered Johnson & Johnson to pay $4.7 billion in damages to women in a similar case. This amount was later reduced to $2.1 billion.

Talc is a mineral similar in structure to asbestos, which is known to cause cancer, and is sometimes obtained from the same mines.

In 2020, the company recalled 33,000 bottles of baby powder after FDA regulators found a small amount of asbestos in a bottle purchased online. Later that year, Johnson & Johnson said this 15 tests from the same bottle of baby powder carried out by two laboratories contracted by the company did not find asbestos.

A US government-led analysis of 250,000 women, the largest study to examine the question, found no strong evidence linking baby powder to ovarian cancer, although the lead author of the ‘analysis qualified the results as “very ambiguous”.

Last fall, the company created a spin-off subsidiary called LTL Management to handle all talc demand claims. LTL Management later filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in a move that some believe was designed to delay settlements in the various lawsuits. Johnson & Johnson said it invested about $2 billion in a trust fund set up to pay claims the bankruptcy court determines it owes.

Johnson & Johnson also said last fall that it would spin off its consumer health business, which sold baby powder, bandages and other products, into a separate publicly traded company. The part of the company that sells prescription drugs and medical devices will retain the J&J name.

Johnson & Johnson shares were down nearly 1% early Friday morning, to about $165 each. Still, the stock has outperformed the Dow Jones Industrial Average, of which J&J is a member, for most of this year.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.