Tag: asbestos

J&J helped fund 1971 study where ASBESTOS was injected into mostly black inmates paid up to $300 to determine if deadly substance was safe to use in talcum powder

Pharmaceutical giant Johnson & Johnson helped fund a 1960s prison experiment when a group of majority-black Pennsylvania prisoners were injected with asbestos to determine whether the substance was safe to use in talcum powder.

Documents confirming the company’s involvement were obtained by Bloomberg, tying the New Jersey-based company to controversial experiments led by Dr Albert Kligman, a University of Pennsylvania dermatologist whose human experiments have widely condemned as brutal and unethical. He died in 2010 aged 93. 

Inmates at Holmesburg Prison in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, were offered $10 to $300 – equivalent to between $100 to $2,500 in today’s money when adjusted for inflation – to take part in the study – though they were likely unaware of the significant risk they were undertaking.

Participants were injected with asbestos and talc – a powder that forms the base of J&J’s iconic baby powder product. Asbestos is an extremely dangerous chemical that is tied to lung cancers, among other conditions. 

Keep reading

Company Who Knew Asbestos Was in Its Baby Powder Now Distributing COVID-19 Vaccine

Johnson & Johnson knew for decades their baby powder was tainted with carcinogenic asbestos and they kept that information from regulators and the public. A government-funded study from the mid-1990s found that Johnson’s baby powder caused cancer in rats and other studies have found an increased risk of cancer in women who used their talc-based products. The potential risks have been known to the company for decades.

What’s more, in 2018, the pharma giant was ordered to pay $4.7 billion to thousands of victims who reportedly developed cancer from using Johnson & Johnson’s products. In that case, 22 women alleged the company’s talc-based products, including its baby powder, contained the known carcinogen, asbestos, which caused them to develop cancer. According to reports, there are over 9,000 similar talc lawsuits against the company.

Currently faced with several major lawsuits for fueling the opioid crisis in the United States, Johnson & Johnson also has a history of bribing doctors and government officials. Even more disturbing still, a Reuters investigation found that J&J knowingly sold a baby powder product that they knew had asbestos in it, which causes mesothelioma.

Keep reading