- The National Council of Black Women is suing Johnson & Johnson for baby powder with talcum powder.
- The lawsuit alleges that the company “deceptively” marketed the powder to black women.
- There have been 25,000 lawsuits against the company’s baby powder in the United States.
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Johnson & Johnson is facing another lawsuit regarding its talc baby powder.
The organization said that the National Council of Black Women filed a lawsuit against the company on Tuesday, accusing the company of “deceptively marketing” the product to black women while knowing its connection with ovarian cancer.
The lawsuit alleges that Johnson & Johnson’s baby powder was actively marketed to black women as a “keep fresh and clean” product.However, the organization stated that internal documents from a study conducted in 1968 indicated that the powder contained talc, which could be Contaminated by asbestos And the company knows that there is “the carcinogenicity of talc and the influence of talc use.”
“This lawsuit is about the lives of our grandmothers, our mothers, our wives, sisters, and daughters-all these people are the targets of cynicism by Johnson & Johnson,” lawyer Ben Crump said in a press release. “For a long time, company executives have known that talcum powder has the risk of ovarian cancer.”
For decades, baby powder has been the main product in the bathing habits of many black families.This The New York Times first reported litigation.
In a statement, Johnson & Johnson refuted claims that its products were insecure and stated that it had never systematically targeted a malicious community.
“We sympathize with anyone with cancer and understand that people are looking for answers. We believe that these answers can be better understood through science-decades of independent scientific tests by medical experts around the world have confirmed that our products are safe. It does not contain asbestos and does not cause cancer.”
The company added: “The allegations against our company are wrong. Our company’s idea of purposefully and systematically targeting communities with bad intentions is unreasonable and absurd. Johnson’s baby powder is safe and our activities have Multiculturalism and inclusiveness. We firmly support the safety of our products and the way we communicate with our customers.”
NCNW hopes to force Johnson & Johnson to take corrective measures to “make black women and all other consumers aware of the risks associated with the use of these products and their link to ovarian cancer.”
As of January 2021, 25,000 U.S. civil lawsuits He has filed a lawsuit against Johnson & Johnson regarding its baby powder. Earlier this year, Johnson & Johnson announced that it would allocate nearly US$4 billion (approximately 59 billion rand) to deal with litigation costs in these cases.
“This company tells black women through its text and images that we are offensive in nature and need to use their products to keep them fresh,” NCNW executive director Janice Mathis said in a press release. “Generations of black women believe in them and it is our daily habit to use their products to put us at risk of cancer-we teach our daughters to do the same. We are ashamed of Johnson & Johnson.”
