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Johnson & Johnson Will Stop Selling Its Famous Talc-Based Baby Powder

The company is facing thousands of lawsuits alleging the product causes cancer, some of which have cost the company hundreds of millions.

Johnson & Johnson will stop selling talc-based baby powder in the United States and Canada. It’s one of the company’s best-known products, but J&J says demand has declined as thousands of lawsuits pile up alleging the soft white powder causes cancer, a charge the company has denied. Some verdicts have cost the company hundreds of millions. In a Tuesday announcement, a company spokesperson said J&J attributed falling sales to “changes in consumer habits and fueled by misinformation around the safety of the product and a constant barrage of litigation advertising.” The company relaunched the product in 2018, but the Food and Drug Administration recalled 33,000 bottles of the baby powder over reported asbestos in a bottle bought online in 2019. J&J said it found no evidence of the carcinogen in its own investigation.