The government of Sri Lanka has temporarily halted imports of Johnson & Johnson baby powder products over concerns about asbestos contamination.

Baby Powder Ban

The Sri Lankan ban is set to remain in place until the company is able to prove that their products do not contain cancer-causing materials including asbestos. The baby powder ban follows the reveal of information in December 2018 alleging that Johnson & Johnson have had knowledge about asbestos fibers in their products for years. According to thousands of pages of company memos and internal reports, the company was aware of the possibility of asbestos in their baby powder as far back as 1971.

Baby Powder Cancer Investigations and Lawsuits

Talc, a clay mineral used in baby powder and other cosmetics, is often found underground near asbestos, a known carcinogen. Even small amounts of asbestos can be very dangerous if inhaled.

Litigation over the health risks associated with talc has unearthed hundreds of pages of internal memos. The documents reportedly show that Johnson & Johnson executives worried for years about the possibility of their products being banned due to safety concerns related to asbestos fiber contamination. The documents allegedly reveal evidence that Johnson & Johnson attempted to cover up information about the risk.

Nearly 12,000 lawsuits have been filed against the company citing the alleged dangers of baby powder. Many of the plaintiffs in these lawsuits are women who have been using baby powder as a cosmetic product for years and have developed cancer, often ovarian cancer.

In the past several years, Johnson & Johnson has been found liable in at least seven lawsuits regarding talc products. These lawsuits have resulted in millions of dollars in damages awarded to the plaintiffs.

Johnson & Johnson Faces Senate Investigation

Concerns about this issue have reached members of Congress. On Jan. 28, 2019, Senator Patty Murray of Washington wrote a letter to Johnson & Johnson CEO Alex Gorsky. Sen. Murray, a ranking member of the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions, requested that the company provide documentation regarding past asbestos testing.

In the letter, Sen. Murray states that she is troubled by the information that has been recently discovered about the safety of Johnson & Johnson’s products, as well as the allegations that the company attempted to mislead regulators and consumers about the safety of these products for decades. In addition to requesting past test results, Sen. Murray also requests in the letter that Johnson & Johnson provide documentation showing that they disclosed the results of these tests to the FDA.

If you have used Johnson & Johnson baby powder or other talc-based products and have been diagnosed with cancer, you may qualify to join a free baby powder class action lawsuit investigation.