Major Retailers Pull J & J Baby Powder After FDA Finds Asbestos

Major retailers have stopped selling the 22-ounce bottles of Johnson & Johnson baby powder after last week’s announcement that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration found traces of asbestos in one of the containers. Exposure to asbestos, a naturally occurring mineral and known carcinogen, is the primary cause of malignant mesothelioma, a rare and aggressive cancer with no definitive cure. Walmart, CVS Pharmacy and Rite Aid were among the many retailers that have pulled the product from shelves as part of the voluntary recall. “We always put customer safety first and foremost,” Chris Savarese, Rite Aid spokesman told The Mesothelioma Center at Asbestos.com. “Rite Aid informed all stores to pull all products from the shelves. We’ve also applied a point-of-sale system block for this product, to prevent it from being sold.” All three retailers have continued selling the product in other size containers. A Walmart spokesperson told The Mesothelioma Center at Asbestos.com it pulled only the containers that were part of the 33,000-bottle batch being recalled. Johnson & Johnson announced the voluntary recall of its iconic baby powder on October 18 after testing by the FDA found traces of asbestos in a bottle purchased recently from an online retailer. The company said that it was working closely with federal authorities to determine the validity of the test results and the integrity of the tested sample. FDA testing indicated sub-trace levels of chrysotile asbest...
Source: Asbestos and Mesothelioma News - Category: Environmental Health Authors: Source Type: news