Congressional Testimony May Doom Johnson & Johnson's Talcum Powder Defense Effort

Doctors that have testified under oath before Congress have concluded that the talc may contain asbestos, a known carcinogen

Tuesday, March 23, 2021 - Dr. Jacqueline Moline, a board-certified physician at Northwell Health, specializing in occupational and environmental medicine and the impact of asbestos on people's health, joined Dr. William Longo, Ph.D. and a scientist at Materials Analytical Services, LLC in Georgia, to give testimony before Congress about the links between talc and asbestos. In summary, Dr. Long stated that by using a more sensitive method of testing for asbestos than what was adopted by Johnson & Johnson and the cosmetics industry in general, nearly every bottle of Johnson's Talcum Powder tested positive for the deadly mineral. Dr. Moline explained in detail the medical history of patients that had no history of exposure to asbestos other than using talc-based cosmetics and whom diet from mesothelioma, the deadly and gradual scarring of the delicate outer lining of the lungs that causes its victims to experience a slow and painful death by suffocation. Both Dr.s' Longo and Moline advocate for the banning of deadly substances. Talcum Powder asbestos lawyers are interviewing clients with a history of talcum powder use that has developed cancer.

Dr. William Longo's stated during his congressional testimony last year, that he agreed with the statement that there is no safe level of ingesting asbestos, and that was the official position of both the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). This opinion was reinforced by Johnson & Johnson CEO Alex Gorsky, (who) was asked in a deposition whether asbestos is safe. He stated, "I would agree that asbestos is considered unsafe. I'm not an expert geologist or a safety expert in that particular area, but, generally speaking, we would say, yes, asbestos is not safe." Chairman Krishnamoorthi then asked Dr. Moline about the significance of the FDA recently testing Johnson's Baby Powder and finding asbestos to which he replied, " to this day, they're finding asbestos when they go off the shelf in talcum powder, and it's putting thousands, if not millions, of people at risk in the future."

Dr. Moline gave an example of a patient who succumbed to mesothelioma after a lifetime of cosmetic talc exposure in her occupation as a beautician. " I'd like to tell you about Ms. D, who is a 66-year old woman who developed shortness of breath, chest wall pain, weight loss, and fatigue. A chest x-ray showed fluid surrounding her lung, and she had 1,600 milliliters of fluid, more than about seven of these water bottles on this table in front of me, removed from her lungs. She eventually had surgery to take tissue samples for diagnosis and had mesothelioma," the doctor told lawmakers. Asbestos fibers are microscopically small and can move throughout the body once inhaled. Interestingly, women patients of hers were thought to have developed mesothelioma by laundering the clothes of their asbestos miner husbands that came home covered in asbestos dust head to toe. Moline recently published an article in the Journal of Occupational and Environmental Medicine that concluded 6 of her 33 patients whose only asbestos exposure was cosmetic talc had developed mesothelioma.