FDA Is Getting Involved in Talc Asbestos Testing

The cosmetics industry is under fire for failing to properly regulate themselves and instead adopting testing methods that are so lax as to ensure that their products make their way to store shelves

Wednesday, January 22, 2020 - The latest attempt by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to persuade cosmetics companies like Johnson & Johnson, whose Johnson's Baby Powder is the subject of more than 16,000 lawsuits for containing asbestos and other toxic chemicals, has been met with the usual, tried and true denials by the company. To this day, the official Johnson & Johnson company line is that they use the latest and most technically sophisticated asbestos testing method adopted by hundreds of companies throughout the cosmetics industry and that their products that contain talc are pure and safe. A Johnson & Johnson spokesperson said as much after a recent win over a woman who was suing the company alleging that her lifelong use of Johnson's Baby powder contributed to causing her ovarian cancer. The company refuses to admit that its signature product causes cancer. According to Courtroom View News Blog (CVN): "The jury carefully considered the decades of independent clinical evidence, which show Johnson's Baby Powder is safe, does not contain asbestos and does not cause cancer." Talcum powder cancer lawyers have vast experience handling pharmaceutical companies with a winning track record and offer a free no obligation consultation before filing a lawsuit claim.

After almost fifty years of looking the other way, the FDA in late 2019 tested bottles of talc using the liquid separation method and found particles of asbestos, a known carcinogen responsible for many thousands of deaths by causing mesothelioma, a rare form of cancer of the lining of the lungs. Johnson & Johnson responded immediately by voluntarily recalling only the batch of 33,000 from which the sample bottles were taken, tested several, and issued their own opinion that their tests failed to uncover any asbestos at all and that the FDA tests results were questionable as to the purity of the potentially pre-opened bottles of talc from which the government's samples may have been taken. The FDA disagreed and formed a panel that concluded that they would require the cosmetics industry including Johnson & Johnson, to adopt the more stringent liquid separation method of testing talc for asbestos.

Mesothelioma Guide.com, a leading publication in the treatment of mesothelioma community, is closely monitoring developments pertaining to the FDA getting more actively involved in talc asbestos testing, something that is long overdue. A report issued the other day titled: "FDA Considering Overhaul of Asbestos and Talc Testing Methods," found that the FDA asbestos testing panel formed in 2017 is due to give a final recommendation as to the method of asbestos testing it will require of the cosmetics industry. The meeting will be held on February 4, 2020, and will report their findings on asbestos testing methods. "The FDA will hold a public event Feb. 4 at the FDA's White Oak Campus in Silver Springs, Maryland. The meeting will be the first FDA hearing since 1971 that focuses on testing methods for asbestos in talc and cosmetics, " the website reports.