J&J to stop selling talc-based baby powder globally in 2023

NEW YORK • Johnson & Johnson will stop selling talc-based baby powder globally next year, the drugmaker said, more than two years after it ended US sales of a product that drew thousands of consumer safety lawsuits.

"As part of a worldwide portfolio assessment, we have made the commercial decision to transition to an all cornstarch-based baby powder portfolio," it said on Thursday, adding that cornstarch-based baby powder is already sold in countries around the world.

In 2020, J&J announced that it would stop selling its talc baby powder in the United States and Canada because demand had fallen in the wake of what it called "misinformation" about the product's safety amid a barrage of legal challenges. The company faces about 38,000 lawsuits from consumers and their survivors, who claim its talc products caused cancer due to contamination with asbestos, a known carcinogen.

J&J denies the allegations, saying decades of scientific testing and regulatory approvals have shown its talc to be safe and asbestos-free.

On Thursday, it reiterated the statement as it announced the discontinuation of the product.

In response to a query from The Straits Times, a J&J spokesman in Singapore said: "We will wind down the production of talc-based baby powder by the first quarter of 2023, and existing inventory will continue to be sold by retailers in Singapore until our supply of talc-based powder runs out."

J&J spun off subsidiary LTL Management last October, assigned its talc claims to it and immediately placed it into bankruptcy, pausing the pending lawsuits.

Those suing have said Johnson & Johnson should have to defend itself against the lawsuits, while defendants of J&J and the bankrupt subsidiary process say it is an equitable way to compensate claimants. Before the bankruptcy filing, the company faced costs from US$3.5 billion (S$4.8 billion) in verdicts and settlements, including one in which 22 women were awarded a judgment of more than US$2 billion.

Internal company records, trial testimony and other evidence showed that from at least 1971 to the early 2000s, J&J's raw talc and finished powders sometimes tested positive for small amounts of asbestos.

Sold since 1894, Johnson's Baby Powder became a symbol of the company's family-friendly image.

An internal J&J marketing presentation from 1999 refers to the baby products division, with baby powder at the core, as J&J's "No. 1 asset", although the baby powder accounted for only about 0.5 per cent of its US consumer health business when the company pulled it off the shelves.

REUTERS