A laboratory owner, who has provided defense testimony concerning allegations that talc and asbestos are sometimes both present in Johnson & Johnson’s Baby Powder, reportedly discovered his own lab found asbestos in a sample of baby powder.

According to a new report from Reuters, AMA Analytical Services Inc. tested talc products for the FDA, including a blind sample of Johnson & Johnson’s Baby Powder in September that was found to have six chrysotile asbestos fibers. The finding prompted the recall of 33,000 bottles of the iconic powder.

Andreas Saldivar is the lab director of AMA Analytical Services and has testified as an expert for Johnson & Johnson when the company has gone to trial regarding allegations asbestos-tainted talc products caused cancer.

Johnson & Johnson is now placed in the awkward position of trying to debunk the test results without damaging the integrity of their expert witness, according to law strategists.

The FDA told Reuters it is not swaying on its belief that the test results are accurate. The government agency also expressed that asbestos mixed with talc would not uniformly contaminate the talc, which could lead to different testing methods and different samples from the same bottle to result in a range of determinations.

When talc is mined, asbestos often is naturally found nearby or even as ribbons running through talc mounds.

Has Baby Powder Always Contained Talc and Asbestos?

For years, Johnson & Johnson has won and lost multi-million lawsuits regarding allegations women developed ovarian cancer from using talc on their private areas. Most of these cases hinged on testimony from researchers that talc particles could make their way up the fallopian tubes where cancer eventually took root. Research as far back as the 1980s found talc particles in ovarian cancer tumors.

In 1982, Dr. Daniel W. Cramer of the Obstetrics and Gynecology Center at Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston was the first to point to a link between the use of talc in the genital area and an increased risk of ovarian cancer.

In a 2016 phone interview with Reuters, he said, “This is an easily modified risk factor. Talc is a good drying agent, but women should know that if it’s used repeatedly, it can get into the vagina and into their upper genital tract. And I think if they knew that, they wouldn’t use it.”

In recent years, Johnson & Johnson also has faced lawsuits alleging its Baby Powder and Shower to Shower powder both were tainted with asbestos. Plaintiffs fighting a rare and nearly always deadly mesothelioma cancer diagnosis allege they inhaled and swallowed asbestos fibers that became airborne with the sprinkling of the talc powders.

Johnson & Johnson has insisted its talc and asbestos are thoroughly separated, but the new revelation that one of its own paid laboratory experts runs a lab that found asbestos fibers in a Johnson & Johnson Baby Powder sample is a blow to the company’s credibility.

In December 2018, Reuters published an investigative article that included the revelation that Johnson & Johnson’s internal documents indicated the company knew that its talcum powders were contaminated with asbestos for years, but held such test results secret.