People walk along a corridor at the headquarters of Johnson & Johnson in New Brunswick, NJ in 2013. (File photo: AP)
Johnson & Johnson is recalling a single lot of its baby powder as a precaution after government testing found trace amounts of asbestos in one bottle bought online.
The recall comes as J&J fights thousands of lawsuits in which plaintiffs claim its iconic baby powder was contaminated with asbestos and that it caused ovarian cancer or another rare cancer. At multiple trials, J&J experts have testified asbestos hasn’t been detected in the talc in its baby powder in many tests over 40 years.
On Friday, J&J said the US Food and Drug Administration found minuscule amounts of asbestos in one bottle. The company is investigating whether the bottle is counterfeit and how the contamination occurred.
The recalled lot contained 33,000 bottles.
