DOJ, SEC issue subpoena to Johnson & Johnson over baby product safety

Johnson & Johnson is presently facing lawsuits involving 13,000 plaintiffs. 

Pharmaceutical and consumer products giant Johnson & Johnson has confirmed that it has received subpoenas from the U.S. Department of Justice as well as the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), with regard to investigations into alleged asbestos contamination in the products from its well-known Baby Powder line.

Apparently, the company aims to fully cooperate with inquiries from the authorities and would keep defending itself against talc product-related litigation. In its annual report issued recently, the company accepted for the first time that it had received subpoenas from U.S. agencies over safety concerns regarding its talc power products, Reuters has mentioned. 

The DOJ and SEC did not seem to have offered any comments for responding to the news. 

A report released in December said that Johnson & Johnson was aware for decades that asbestos, which is a recognized carcinogen, had been found several times in its talc and powder products in small amounts. The company had allegedly failed to disclose this information, found out from tests conducted from 1970s to early 2000s, to the public and the regulators.

Records show that the information revealed had led to Johnson & Johnson shares losing about $40 billion from the market valuation in a single day. It had also triggered a public relations disaster involving worldwide inquiries about probable health effects of its signature product.

For its part, the company has stated that inquiries from federal agencies are based on news reports which consisted of inaccurate statements, besides withholding vital information that were made public already. Johnson & Johnson has insisted that for decades, independent testing performed by regulators and leading laboratories around the world have proven its baby power is asbestos-free, safe to use and does not cause cancer.

For the record, Johnson & Johnson is facing lawsuits involving 13,000 plaintiffs who claim using the company’s talc products, such as Baby Powder, have caused cancer.