Why Johnson's Baby Powder Made From Talc Is Being Banned Internationally
Some nations such as India are doing their best to warn mothers not to use talcum powder on their babies
Monday, June 5, 2023 - The Johnson & Johnson talcum powder cancer scandal has reached international proportions as India is warning their citizens not to use Johnson's Baby Powder made from talc, and especially not to use it on their babies. Dermatologists there are concerned because the of people there are mostly unaware of the connection between talc, asbestos, and cancer. An article published the other day in IndiaExpress.com describes talcum powder as once being the go-to solution for the problem of diaper rash and other skin irritations due to sweating and chafing from high heat and humidity. A medical expert tells IE that talcum powder including the nation's best-selling Johnson's Baby Powder is mined adjacent to and sometimes interlaced with or overlapping asbestos, a known carcinogen, and that cross-contamination is inevitable. As a side note, the mining of talc and asbestos entails open-pit blasting where the hard minerals of talc and asbestos are pulverized into the air and scooped up after the fine particle fall to the ground. Once contaminated it is impossible to remove asbestos from talc and a person is playing Russian Roulette as not every bottle is guaranteed to be contaminated. In fact, Johnson & Johnson continues to tell the public that they have frequently tested their talc for asbestos and that every test was negative. The company insists that Johnson’s Baby Powder made from talc is safe, pure, and asbestos-free. Talcum powder lawsuits number in the tens of thousands.
Such a representation is opposed to that of Georgia (USA) based microscope biologist and frequent plaintiff expert witness Dr. William Longo, working for Materials Analytical Services, LLC, who has testified under oath to members of the US Congress that asbestos frequently can be found in talc. According to Mesothelioma.com, Dr. Longo's congressional testimony highlighted the findings of asbestos in an alarmingly high percentage of talcum powder bottles. " Dr. Longo argued that the Cosmetics Industry used and uses sub-standard asbestos testing methods that were inadequate to detect the deadly carcinogen, "The cosmetic talc industry has, in that time, accumulated hundreds if not thousands of testing results that report 'no detectable or quantifiable asbestos.' These reports, regarded by the manufacturers as 'negative,' are very misleading as they result from analytical and methodological techniques with poor detection limits." "(Dr. Longo) He analyzed samples of Johnson & Johnson's baby powder from the 1940s to the 2000s, along with the company's current products. He tested the products for asbestos using the Heavy Liquid Separation (HLS) technique, which is more sensitive than the testing methods used by Johnson & Johnson. Overall, Dr. Longo discovered 65% of all samples tested positive for asbestos."
It was not until the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) tested bottles of Johnson's Baby Powder and confirmed they found asbestos did Johnson & Johnson discontinue selling Johnson's Baby Powder with talc, but only in Canada and the US. the company continued to sell talcum powder in India, a massive market with an ideal climate and of course a potentially less well-informed demographic. Additionally, the nation of Zimbabwe has banned Johnson's Baby Powder effective immediately and is warning their citizens that "talc used in the product is highly toxic."
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