Large corporates businesses have always been blamed for being involved in shady dealing just to maximize their profits. Such companies have been known to create viruses or sign oppressive agreements, all in the name of money.
Johnson and Johnson’s is a multinational corporation widely known across the globe. Based in America, this company specializes in developing medical products like vaccines and distributing numerous pharmaceuticals to various nations and states. It is also involved in manufacturing consumer packaged goods for hygienic and sanitary purposes.
Image via Flickr/Mike Mozart is licensed with CC BY-SA 2.0. To view a copy of this license, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0/Given its widespread popularity and sphere of influence, Johnson and Johnson’s corporation is responsible for supplying many products to the masses in Europe and primarily the United States of America. This company has been fighting lawsuits since the 90s up to date. According to forbes.com, Johnson and Johnson has over 20 000 lawsuits from its consumers who have been complaining about its product [Source]. Because of this, it has lost a lot of profits while trying to settle the damages from the lawsuits.
Recently it has been struck by one of its highest pay-out to complainants who had lodged a lawsuit against their Talcum baby powder and Shower to Shower talc. Talcum baby powder and Shower to Shower talc are made from talc found in the earth’s underlying bedding planes. It is believed that talc is located close to asbestos underground, and such talc is filled with asbestos. Using any product with asbestos causes cancer. There are two types of talc, one with asbestos and the other which is free of asbestos. But the most common one or easy to find is the one filled with asbestos, which is harmful to humans, especially babies [Source]. Asbestos can cause cancer if inhaled by people, so it is dangerous to use any product with asbestos.
Talcum powder helps to keep skin dry by absorbing moisture, and it can also be used to prevent skin rashes, especially on babies’ soft skin. It is no surprise that women propagated the lawsuit against Talcum powder as most consumers. John and Johnson were taken to court for selling Talcum powder and shower to shower talc made of talc-filled with asbestos which has led to the development of ovarian cancer in 22 women who used the product. It was ruled that Johnson and Johnson pay $2.1 billion to the plaintiffs. Efforts to appeal against the ruling were fruitless as the United States of America Supreme Court denied a hearing. Their appeal and maintained that they pay for the damage inflicted on the specific victims.
The company argued that given their status and resources, they can afford to have in-depth research on their products before distributing them to the public. The representatives released reports citing that they are a credible corporation that has been in the industry for a long and has always been careful with their research and experiment on everyTheir product theirs. An adequate scientific examination was done on all the products they put on the market.
Reuters investigation shared controversial information relating to the denial by Johnson and Johnson that there was no asbestos in the talc used in the talcum powder and shower to shower talc they manufacture and sell [Source]. From their investigation, Reuters researchers in an online publication published in 2018 noted that the issue of poisonous baby powder from Johnson and Johnson was raised long back in the 90s by some consumers. Still, the case did not trigger any real concerns as the customers did not have any evidence or proof that they got infected by cancer due to the baby powder. The investigators further stated that about three tests were done to determine whether there was asbestos in its talc, and the results came back positive.
The tests also proved that the talc found was even at high levels, which means it was very hazardous to humans if used. However, the company managed to evade giving the test results to the concerned parties, and the case was dropped due to a lack of evidence. The Reuters team wanted to prove that Johnson and Johnson had known about the asbestos in their products for a very long time, and they had managed to keep that ‘secret’ buried for long.
Unfortunately, it seems as if the secret has emerged into the spotlight as a lawsuit against them was launched by their customers who had been using their products for a certain period. The verdict that the aforementioned products cause ovarian cancer was put across back in 2018. The company still refutes the claims and has already withdrawn the product from some of its markets in the United States of America, Canada, and other neighboring European countries. Cancer is a killing machine worldwide. It is one of the deadliest diseases that has caused scientists continuous headaches to find a cure for it, but all is in vain.
Causing cancer among humans is an evil act and might be one reason why the jury had ruled that the plaintiffs be given money amounting to $4.7 billion when the verdict was reached back in 2018. With continued denial and refusal, Johnson and Johnson propelled several appeals against the ruling. They managed to convince the courts in 2020 to reduce the amount, and finally, it was pegged at $2.1 billion.
The Supreme Court declined to hear an appeal by the corporate, which wanted to nullify the ruling by the courts, which tried all the 22 cases of women who were coming from different places. The main argument being that other places have distinctive factors that can cause cancer in human beings, and it is not fair to bank the cases on their products. But all the 22 women said that they had used the baby powder or shower to shower talc, so it might be true that those products were the cause of their conditions.
Although it keeps on arguing for its innocence, Johnson and Johnson’s corporate has to give the pay-out to the women as ruled by the US lawmakers.
