The encyclopedia · Product & Design · Product decision · 2018-2022
Johnson's baby powder: 130 years of talc, ended by one bottle of asbestos
One FDA finding of sub-trace asbestos in a single bottle recalled 33,000. Then lawsuits ended the talc powder: US and Canada in 2020, the world in 2023.
Johnson & Johnson · 2022-08-11
What happened
Johnson's baby powder was a talc-based product sold for almost 130 years. In October 2019, an FDA test found chrysotile asbestos — 0.00002 percent in one bottle — and Johnson & Johnson recalled about 33,000 bottles "out of an abundance of caution," while insisting that thousands of tests over 40 years had found no asbestos.
By then the lawsuits were a flood: tens of thousands of claims, almost 20,000 of them in the US by May 2020, with verdicts that climbed into the billions before appeals. J&J said demand had fallen under a "constant barrage" of lawyer advertising, and on May 19, 2020 it stopped selling talc-based baby powder in the US and Canada, keeping the cornstarch version.
The exit was complete in August 2022: J&J said it would replace the talc-based powder with cornstarch worldwide, ending the talc business by 2023. Behind the decision were $3.5 billion in verdicts and settlements, and an October 2021 attempt to park the liabilities in a bankruptcy subsidiary.
Why it happened
- A talc product sold for almost 130 years ended because of one bottle: FDA found sub-trace asbestos in a single sample and 33,000 were recalled "out of an abundance of caution."
- Demand fell under a "constant barrage" of lawyer advertising — J&J's own description — while almost 20,000 US claims and billion-dollar verdicts accumulated.
- The exit ran on verdicts and settlements of $3.5 billion, and ended with the talc line retired worldwide and the liabilities pushed toward bankruptcy.
The lesson
One FDA finding of sub-trace asbestos recalled 33,000 bottles and ended a product sold for 130 years: talc powder left the US and Canada in 2020, the world in 2023, behind $3.5 billion in verdicts.
Aftermath
In October 2019, FDA testing found chrysotile asbestos at 0.00002 percent in one bottle of Johnson's baby powder; Johnson & Johnson recalled about 33,000 bottles "out of an abundance of caution." By May 2020 the company faced almost 20,000 US claims, and it stopped selling talc-based baby powder in the US and Canada on May 19, 2020. On August 11, 2022, J&J said it would replace the talc-based powder with cornstarch worldwide, ending the talc business by 2023; the BBC put the accumulated verdicts and settlements at $3.5 billion.
Sources
- The Guardian — Johnson & Johnson recalls baby powder after FDA finds asbestos (Oct 2019)
- BBC News — Johnson & Johnson to stop selling talc-based baby powder in US and Canada (May 2020)
- CNN — Johnson & Johnson stops selling talc-based baby powder in the US and Canada (May 2020)
- BBC News — Johnson & Johnson to end global sales of talc baby powder (Aug 2022)
- Wikipedia — Johnson's Baby (litigation section)
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