NPR Show Details Johnson & Johnson Link to Asbestos and Mesothelioma

The controversy regarding asbestos exposure and mesothelioma risks for Johnson & Johnson Baby Powder has been ongoing for many years.

Even in 2025, though, after so many troubling details have emerged about the harmful business practices by Johnson & Johnson, more pieces of the story are coming to light.

The NPR show “Fresh Air” featured investigative journalist Gardiner Harris, who wrote the book “No More Tears”, which dives into the history of Johnson & Johnson’s connection with asbestos and cancer, including mesothelioma. The book also questions the company’s business practice and the safety of products containing talc, which can include dangerous amounts of asbestos.

“Johnson & Johnson is in many ways a law firm with a drug and medical device subsidiary attached,” Harris said during the NPR interview. “The company from very early on has taken a kind of ‘no prisoners’ stance to claims and litigation against it. The company does not settle unless it is absolutely forced to settle.”

Harris worked previously for the New York Times and the Wall Street Journal. He reported on the pharmaceutical industry.

Tonya Mosley hosted the “Fresh Air” episode, titled “The Dark Secrets of Johnson & Johnson.” During the interview, Harris revealed some facts about Johnson & Johnson’s attempt to shield victims from compensation that were not widely known.

 

Asbestos Risks for Johnson & Johnson Baby Powder 

For decades, Johnson & Johnson Baby Powder was made with talc. This natural mineral was the primary ingredient, ground into a powder for skin health. Asbestos is also a mineral and has many of the same characteristics. There is no scientific evidence linking talc to cancer, though, while asbestos is known to cause cancer.

Asbestos is the only cause of mesothelioma and also can cause lung cancer and ovarian cancer. Mesothelioma is a rare type of cancer that forms near the lungs, abdominal cavity, heart and testes. Tumors spread quickly, and the average life expectancy after diagnosis is 12-16 months with non-surgical treatment (chemotherapy and immunotherapy).

Asbestos is so dangerous – and so proven to cause cancer – that it’s banned in the United States. The country banned the most common type of asbestos in 2024.

“Asbestos’ particles are so tiny that they actually spear DNA,” Harris said, “and that spearing of DNA leads to genetic changes and then leads to cancer.”

Talc and asbestos are so similar they actually are found in the same deposits. They have nearly the same chemical make-ups.

“Talc and asbestos have identical chemical constituents,” Harris said, “and it’s just a question of time and pressure whether those chemicals grow into talc or asbestos. They are so similar that all deposits of talc have at least a little bit of asbestos in it, and all deposits of asbestos have at least a little bit of talc.

“You cannot fully separate the two.”

Johnson & Johnson – and other health and beauty companies, like Avon, Claire’s and Chanel – hoped to use talc for the mineral’s ability to absorb moisture on skin. The company’s baby powder was so popular that adult women used it after showers.

Yet, the company knew of what likely lay within the talcum powder.

“Johnson & Johnson became aware of the presence of asbestos in its talc-based baby powder in roughly the 1940s and 1950s,” Harris said. “The reason that timeframe is important is it’s around the 1950s when scientists became aware asbestos was uniquely dangerous among minerals. Even tiny, microscopic amounts of asbestos exposure could lead to cancer, most prominently mesothelioma.”

At the time, asbestos was not taboo – at least not publicly. The mineral could absorb heat and protect machinery from fire damage. Asbestos also protected automobile parts, buildings, electrical wires and more.

“In the 1960s, asbestos was everywhere in American society,” Harris said. “There was not a car, plane, truck, or boat that didn’t have asbestos in it. So the small amounts of asbestos in Johnson & Johnson Baby Powder seemed, in those early years, as if it wasn’t a terrible concern.”

 

Concern About Johnson & Johnson Baby Powder Grows

In the 1970s, research definitively linked asbestos exposure to mesothelioma. In the 1980s, research tied the mineral to ovarian cancer. A specific study found that women who used Johnson & Johnson Baby Powder were significantly more at risk of ovarian cancer.

Approximately half of babies during the 20th century had their bottoms dusted with Johnson & Johnson Baby Powder. In the NPR interview, Harris detailed how some infant babies can have 6-12, or more, diaper changes a day, and talc is so finely ground into a powder that excess power can remain suspended in the changing room for more than an hour.

This means tiny particles of asbestos can contaminate where a baby sleeps, eats, and more for half the day, and infants likely breathed in these tiny fibers.

“As the evidence of talc’s deadly effects started to build, Johnson & Johnson attacked the science, attacked the scientists, and denied that they had ever seen evidence asbestos was in their baby powder,” Harris said.

 

Johnson & Johnson’s Marketing Builds False Trust

Harris explained in the NPR interview how Johnson & Johnson built emotional trust with women – and that trust carried the company for years. He cited a commercial in 1985 as an example, and this anecdote is a new piece coming to light.

In the commercial, a man held the childhood teddy bear of his wife, who applied Johnson & Johnson Baby Powder on her arm. The woman said, “there are some things you just don’t give up,” referring to the bear. When the man said, “Like Johnson & Johnson’s Baby Powder,” the woman replied yes.

The popular product also had a specific smell, and Harris explained that smell is the main sense connected to memories. Women often associated Johnson & Johnson’s Baby Powder to their childhood – through the smell – and therefore had an affinity to keep using the product as adults.

“Other companies – Pfizer and Colgate among them – used talc in their powder products. Nearly all of those other companies ended their use of talc because of these dangers and because of the growing literature linking talc use to cancer,” Harris said. “Johnson & Johnson didn’t do that. Part of the reason was Johnson & Johnson dominated the space. Another was that Johnson & Johnson Baby Powder was so thoroughly linked to the company and its history.”

 

Start of Litigation Against Johnson & Johnson for Cancer

Harris said the first legal case involving someone blaming their cancer on Johnson & Johnson Baby Powder was in 2011 or 2012. The victim, who filed the case in North Dakota, won but wasn’t awarded any money. One of the reasons was Johnson & Johnson refused to provide documents detailing tests on the product.

This left victims without stone-cold evidence of asbestos being present, even though Harris said juries could put two and two together through trial testimony.

A few years later, a woman with mesothelioma filed a mesothelioma lawsuit against a company linked to Johnson & Johnson. As a child, the woman did her homework in her father’s office. Her father’s job involved testing talc products.

During the trial, the victim’s father provided a deposition that accused talc companies like Johnson & Johnson of “lying for decades” about the presence of asbestos, Harris said.

“That deposition led to documents being unearthed and revealed.”

The release of the documents led to a tidal wave of lawsuits against Johnson & Johnson. A group claim from 22 women led to a $4.2 billion verdict, which remains the largest verdict ever levied in a Johnson & Johnson case. Another verdict of $417 million for a woman with ovarian cancer made headlines.

Today, Harris said there are approximately 93,000 pending lawsuits against the company.

Another anecdote during the NPR interview was the extent Johnson & Johnson has gone to defend the asbestos accusations. The company often takes cases to court – refusing to settle or admit in the slightest that the baby powder could be unsafe – and even targeted media outlets attempting to report on the controversy.

Harris told the story of a San Diego media outlet that tested the product and found the presence of asbestos. When journalists contacted the company, they received retribution.

“The company would call the headquarters of those newspaper and TV journalists and say, ‘If you run this story, we will withdraw all of our ads,’” Harris said. “Johnson & Johnson is one of the largest advertisers in the world.

“If you watch the evening news, you’ll see ad after ad of prescription medicine. Johnson & Johnson is a huge player in that space. If you tackle this company, you do so at the risk of the very funds used to fund journalism.”

 

FDA Tests Crumble Johnson & Johnson’s Defense

In 2019, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration tested the product and found trace amounts of asbestos. This led to a recall of 33,000 bottles of Johnson & Johnson Baby Powder, which Mesothelioma Guide reported on at the time. The larger effect was the proof that the powder could contain the cancerous mineral.

In 2020, Johnson & Johnson stopped manufacturing, marketing, and selling the baby powder in the U.S. and Canada. A couple of years later, the powder was sunset worldwide.

“More and more research has shown that talc cannot be certified as free of asbestos ever because asbestos will always be present in small amounts,” Harris said. “As that research has built up, Johnson & Johnson’s defense has been more and more difficult.”

Rather than accept blame and pay cancer victims the compensation they are owed, Johnson & Johnson turned to a legal loophole often used by asbestos manufacturing companies.

The health and beauty giant created a subsidiary, called LTL Management, and placed all legal liabilities related to Johnson & Johnson Baby Powder onto that subsidiary, which then filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy. This reorganization bankruptcy would have protected the subsidiary from future lawsuits and frozen pending ones, thus protecting Johnson & Johnson from continuing to go to court or face potential multi-million-dollar verdicts.

This maneuver is called the “Texas Two-Step”, made popular by asbestos manufacturing companies facing onslaughts of lawsuits from cancer victims. It is a much-scrutinized tactic to avoid paying victims the compensation amount they deserve.

However, the attempt from Johnson & Johnson was denied by a bankruptcy judge in New Jersey. Two other attempts were denied, the most recent in March 2025.

The nearly 100,000 pending lawsuits can now move forward, and new claims won’t be turned away.

 

The Totality of Cancer Cases and Impact From Johnson & Johnson Baby Powder

Harris said approximately 85,000 women have died from ovarian cancer due to the use of Johnson & Johnson Baby Powder. This equals approximately 3,000-5,000 cases a year.

One of those cases is Mary Pazdur, the wife of Richard Pazdur. Richard was the director of the FDA’s Oncology Center of Excellence (OCE). After his wife’s death, Richard filed a wrongful death lawsuit against Johnson & Johnson. The lawsuit details how Mary used the powder every morning after getting out of the shower.

This is also a new piece of the story, and it’s quite a damning one considering Richard Pazdur’s access to scientific information.

“Rick Pazdur is arguably the most influential oncologist on the planet,” Harris said. “He has seen more secret data about cancer drugs than any person alive, and he believes Johnson & Johnson Baby Powder killed his wife.

“His lawsuit is one of 93,000 frozen by the many bankruptcy filings that Johnson & Johnson has filed. It will now advance because this last bankruptcy filing was thrown out by a judge just last week.”

Johnson & Johnson has denied the presence of asbestos and continually claimed its products are safe for consumers. Yet, science says otherwise.

The company has also tried everything in the company’s power to avoid facing the consequences of using talc in baby powder and other health products. Repeat bankruptcy filings and intimidation tactics against the media are just some examples.

Yet, the courts continue to block the company, and victims continue to hold Johnson & Johnson accountable with lawsuits. The NPR interview was titled “The Dark Secrets of Johnson & Johnson.” Now that they aren’t secrets, there’s nowhere for Johnson & Johnson to hide.