Johnson & Johnson Asserts Third-Party Tests Confirm No Asbestos in Baby Powder, Countering FDA Findings

Beijing, April 4 — Johnson & Johnson stated on Tuesday that further testing had confirmed the absence of asbestos, a carcinogen, in its baby powder products, thereby refuting earlier test results from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA).

This October, the FDA stated that testing detected trace amounts of asbestos in certain Johnson & Johnson baby powder products, prompting Johnson & Johnson to announce a recall in the United States of one batch, totaling 33,000 bottles of 22-ounce baby powder.

Johnson & Johnson stated that two different third-party laboratories conducted 155 tests on the same samples from an FDA-contracted laboratory, using four different testing methods, and found that these samples did not contain asbestos.

The company stated that its investigation concluded that the most likely root causes of the FDA-reported results were either contamination of the test samples, errors by laboratory analysts, or both.

FDA officials had previously stated that the differing test results might be due to the uneven distribution of contaminants in talcum powder, and that there is no standard test for asbestos in talcum powder.