Johnson & Johnson will pay $700 million to settle a major lawsuit over its talc baby powder.
The settlement approved and filed in court on Tuesday comes after more than 40 state attorneys general sued the company, claiming it misled customers about product safety.
Johnson & Johnson had been under investigation over the marketing of its talcum-based baby powder, which the company sold for over 100 years.
D.C. plus 42 states, including Maryland and Virginia, found that asbestos was present in the talc and that the company failed to disclose this could lead to cancer.
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Thousands of women in the U.S. have applied talc baby powder to the genitals or in their underwear to absorb moisture and prevent odor that is heavily socially stigmatized, often in advertising. Studies of talc powder have shown that use of the powder in this manner is linked to ovarian cancer.
The association between talc and ovarian cancer is greater for people who used the powder frequently or for long periods of time, NBC News reported in May.
Under the agreement, Johnson & Johnson will permanently stop manufacturing, marketing and selling all baby, body and cosmetic powder products containing talcum powder.
Here's how the DMV's share of the $700 million dollars in the settlement will be distributed:
- D.C. will receive $3 million
- Virginia will receive $21.1 million
- Maryland will receive $14.9 million
None of the three attorney general offices responded to questions from News4 about whether any consumers will receive restitution, or how the money will be disbursed.
While the lawsuit settled on Tuesday targeted allegations of deceptive marketing of the talc products, there are still tens of thousands of lawsuits filed by private individuals that claim Johnson & Johnson talc-based products caused serious health issues, including mesothelioma and ovarian cancer.
Some of those lawsuits are slated to go to trial this year.
Johnson & Johnson finished the first quarter of the financial year with higher-than-expected earnings per share, as sales in its medical devices business surged. Its total revenue, at $21.38 billion, was on par with the expected $21.4 billion estimate. That revenue is up more than 2% from the same quarter in 2023, CNBC reported.
In a statement, the company told News4 in part that "... the Company continues to pursue several paths to achieve a comprehensive and final resolution of the talc litigation ..."
