Low sales are leading to the removal of talcum powder from North American store shelves, not health risks, an industry giant insists.

Johnson & Johnson recently told the organization Black Women for Wellness that its talc-based baby powder is safe, despite evidence possibly linking baby powder to some cancers, and the company still has no intention of taking it off the market internationally, the group revealed. The only reason the company states for pulling the powder from the U.S. is a lack of demand for it – demand driven down by media coverage of lawsuits against it.

The company has taken that public position since May, when it announced the move to stop selling the powder in North America. Black Women for Wellness joined 170 other advocacy groups in calling for Johnson & Johnson to stop selling the talcum powder, period, in July, over concerns it is tainted with asbestos, which causes cancer.

Johnson & Johnson was unconvinced by the campaign and unmoved, according to an e-mail one of its representatives sent to Black Women for Wellness, which the organization posted online.

“Research, clinical evidence and over 40 years of studies by medical experts around the world continue to support the safety of cosmetic talc,” the message from Kathleen Widmer of Johnson & Johnson’s consumer health department said. “We stand behind Johnson’s Baby Powder and continue to offer this product in many other regions around the world where there is higher consumer demand.”

Black Women for Wellness is unconvinced by the company’s reassurances.

“We are deeply disappointed by your patronizing and dismissive response to our request that your company take its responsibility seriously to protect women around the world from unsafe chemical exposures by removing toxic products aggressively marketed to Black women,” Executive Director Janette Robinson Flint wrote to Johnson & Johnson Chief Executive Officer Alex Gorsky in August. “Johnson & Johnson needs to prove its solidarity with Black lives by pulling talc-based products that may be contaminated with asbestos off store shelves globally.”

Thousands Sue Over Talc-Based Baby Powder

Tens of thousands of affected consumers, and their survivors, are suing Johnson & Johnson based on claims the talc products contain asbestos and caused cancer. A 2018 investigative report published by Reuters and based on internal paperwork and legal documents related to some of the litigation determined “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.”

What’s more, some of those internal Johnson & Johnson company records indicated at around the same time a division of the World Health Organization began classifying cosmetic talc possibly carcinogenic when women used it “as a genital antiperspirant and deodorant,” the company was planning in 2006 to target marketing to “under developed geographical areas with hot weather, and higher (African-American) population,” Reuters reported in another article.

Johnson & Johnson refuted much of Reuters’ reporting and insists its studies show the talc-based baby powder is safe.

In June, Johnson & Johnson was ordered to pay $2.1 billion in damages to 22 plaintiffs who said they got ovarian cancer from using the company’s talc-based baby powder. The appeals court in Missouri lowered the original verdict from $4.7 billion, but said there was “clear and convincing evidence the defendants engaged in conduct that was outrageous because of evil motive or reckless indifference.”

Calls for Racial Justice Prompted Organization’s Attention

Robinson Flint said she was moved to call Johnson & Johnson out after Gorsky issued a statement in June to “all members of the Johnson & Johnson family worldwide” reaffirming what he called “our company’s commitment to justice and equality” and saying, “that black lives matter.”

In response, Robinson Flint issued a public statement and appealed to the company. “Marketing the same product with the same toxic chemical in international markets with majority Black and Brown women contradicts what they have said and calls into question the sincerity of their statements.”

Unsuccessful the first time around, Robinson Flint and Black Women for Wellness sent the company a second letter, on August 26, on behalf of 200 health and consumer organizations and agencies from 50 countries. The letter urges Johnson & Johnson to “walk its talk on racial equity and valuing Black women.”