By Peter Loftus 

Johnson & Johnson said Tuesday its testing didn't find asbestos in bottles of Johnson's Baby Powder, including the bottle that U.S. regulators recently said contained the carcinogen.

On Oct. 18, J&J recalled one lot -- or about 33,000 bottles -- of its talcum powder after a laboratory test authorized by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration found a small amount of asbestos in a single bottle. J&J said at the time it was recalling the lot out of an abundance of caution, and would investigate the matter.

The recall fueled concerns about the powder's safety, and led major retailers, including CVS Health Corp., to remove some bottles from store shelves. Asbestos, a mineral fiber once widely used in building construction, can cause lung damage if inhaled.

But the New Brunswick, N.J., company said Tuesday that 15 new tests of the bottle tested by the FDA found no asbestos. J&J also said an additional 48 tests from samples of the recalled lot also showed no asbestos.

J&J said the tests were conducted by two third-party laboratories as part of the company's ongoing investigation.

"Rigorous and third-party testing confirms there is no asbestos in Johnson's Baby Powder," J&J said in a statement. "We stand by the safety of our product."

J&J took the unusual step of halting trading of its shares before announcing the test results.

The safety of J&J's baby powder is at the center of a growing caseload of litigation for the company. About 16,800 people have filed lawsuits in the U.S. alleging that use of its talcum powder caused ovarian cancer or a rare cancer, mesothelioma. Some of the lawsuits allege that the powder contained asbestos.

Last year, a St. Louis jury ordered J&J to pay $4.7 billion in damages to 22 women and their families who alleged that the company's talcum powder caused ovarian cancer. J&J is appealing the verdict.

J&J has said its talcum powder is safe and doesn't cause cancer, and that numerous tests over the past 40 years didn't show a presence of asbestos. The company has suggested that external contamination in testing facilities can introduce asbestos into samples.

In its Tuesday announcement, J&J said one of the labs it hired had a portable air conditioner that was contaminated with asbestos, and initial tests of some of the baby powder samples were positive for asbestos. But when samples were prepared in a standard room, J&J said, no asbestos was detected.

The FDA said earlier this month that it stood by the quality of its testing and results.

Attorneys for plaintiffs in the talcum powder litigation said in a letter to a federal judge overseeing the lawsuits on Monday that the FDA used a lab that J&J had previously recommended for talcum powder testing, and which the company has used before.

"It's not surprising that J&J is attempting to discredit that report through its own testing," said Leigh O'Dell, attorney with Beasley Allen in Montgomery, Ala.

Write to Peter Loftus at peter.loftus@wsj.com

 

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

October 29, 2019 18:19 ET (22:19 GMT)

Copyright (c) 2019 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
Johnson and Johnson (NYSE:JNJ)
Gráfica de Acción Histórica
De Feb 2024 a Mar 2024 Haga Click aquí para más Gráficas Johnson and Johnson.
Johnson and Johnson (NYSE:JNJ)
Gráfica de Acción Histórica
De Mar 2023 a Mar 2024 Haga Click aquí para más Gráficas Johnson and Johnson.