Johnson & Johnson Knew For Decades That Its Baby Powder Had Cancer-causing Asbestos: Report

Agencies
December 15, 2018

Dec 15: Shares of Johnson & Johnson fell 10 percent on Friday and were on track to post their biggest percentage drop in more than 16 years, after Reuters reported that the pharma major knew for decades that cancer-causing asbestos lurked in its Baby Powder.

The decline in shares erased about $40 billion from the company's market capitalisation, with investors worrying about the impact of the report as it faces thousands of talc-related lawsuits.

The stock was the biggest drag on the broader Dow Jones Industrial Average DJI and S&P 500 SPX indexes and was among the most traded on U.S. exchanges. About 28 million shares exchanged hands by 1830 GMT, more than three times its 25-day moving average.

J&J was found to have known about the presence of small amounts of asbestos in its products from as early as 1971, a Reuters examination of company memos, internal reports and other confidential documents showed.

The report also said the company had commissioned and paid for studies conducted on its Baby Powder franchise and hired a ghostwriter to redraft the article that presented the findings in a journal.

In response to the report, the company said "any suggestion that Johnson & Johnson knew or hid information about the safety of talc is false."

"This is all a calculated attempt to distract from the fact that thousands of independent tests prove our talc does not contain asbestos or cause cancer," Ernie Knewitz, J&J's vice president of global media relations, wrote in an emailed response to the report.

The company also said Baby Powder was asbestos-free and added it would continue to defend the safety of its product.

At least two Wall Street analysts said the stock appeared to be oversold on the news.

"In our opinion litigation overhangs are real, and we do not minimize the situation, but the stock pull back does seem over done to us," BMO Capital Markets analyst Joanne Wuensch said.

J&J, in 1976, had assured the U.S. Food and Drug Administration that no asbestos was "detected in any sample" of talc produced between December 1972 and October 1973 when at least three tests by three different labs from 1972 to 1975 had found asbestos in its talc.

The company has been battling more than 10,000 cases claiming its Baby Powder and Shower to Shower products cause ovarian cancer. The products have also been linked with mesothelioma, a rare and deadly form of cancer that affects the delicate tissue that lines body cavities.

"We believe it is highly unlikely the company's exposure to this talc issue will even come close to the $40 billion in lost market cap today," J.P. Morgan analysts said.

They added that talc was not an issue that would resolve quickly for J&J and expect shares to trade at a lower multiple pending further clarity on the company’s exposure to the issue.

While J&J has dominated the talc powder market for more than 100 years, the products contributed to a mere 0.5 percent of its revenue of $76.5 billion last year. Talc cases make up fewer than 10 percent of all personal injury lawsuits pending against the company.

However, Baby Powder is considered essential to J&J's image as a caring company – a "sacred cow," as one 2003 internal email put it.

CFRA Research analyst Colin Sarcola said, "We see today's news potentially impacting sales of everything from baby shampoo to prosthetic hips."

"Given these elevated risks, we no longer feel JNJ shares are attractive at recent prices," Sarcola added.

Shares were last down 8 percent at $135.85, also pulling down the broader S&P 500 healthcare index.

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News Network
November 6,2024

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On the verge of a landslide win in the U.S. election, Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump delivered a powerful victory speech, calling it a "magnificent victory for the American people." Reflecting on the July 13 assassination attempt, Trump said, "God spared my life for a reason," underscoring his belief that his leadership has a higher purpose.

The 78-year-old is currently projected to secure 267 electoral votes, just three shy of the pivotal 270. His opponent, Vice President Kamala Harris, trails with 224 votes. Trump hailed his campaign as the "greatest political movement of all time," vowing, "We are going to help our country heal, fix our borders, and made history for a reason tonight. I will fight for you and your family with every breath in my body."

The Democrats face a formidable Republican lead, with Trump’s team predicting an ultimate tally of 315 electoral votes. A pivotal element in Trump's success was a sweeping takeover in key battleground states. From a Democratic lead of 6-1 in these areas during the 2020 elections, the scales shifted to a 7-0 advantage for Trump, with decisive wins in Georgia, Pennsylvania, and North Carolina and leads in Arizona, Wisconsin, Michigan, and Nevada.

The significance of this Republican victory deepens as the party also takes control of the Senate and holds a commanding lead in the House of Representatives race.

Trump expressed deep gratitude to his supporters, his running mate JD Vance, wife Melanie, and his children for standing by him throughout the challenging campaign. He also extended a special thanks to Tesla CEO and tech mogul Elon Musk, a prominent Trump supporter.

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News Network
November 12,2024

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The Palestinian Hamas resistance movement says its fighters have killed at least 20 Israeli soldiers in northern parts of the besieged Gaza Strip in just two days, in retaliation for the occupying regime’s genocidal war on the Palestinian territory.

In a statement on Monday evening, Hamas said that fighters of its military wing, al-Qassam Brigades, “killed at least five occupation soldiers” in northern parts of the coastal territory earlier in the day.

It added that Hamas fighters also killed 15 Israeli soldiers in the war-ravaged region on Sunday.

The resistance movement’s “qualitative operation … confirms once again the failure of the criminal Zionist entity to suppress and eradicate the Palestinian resistance, which continues to direct qualitative strikes against its terrorist soldiers,” Hamas further said on its Telegram channel.

Palestinians have increased their resistance operations in the face of intensified Israeli aggression in northern Gaza that has claimed the lives of more than 1,000 over the past weeks.

“Our valiant resistance is waging a war of attrition with the criminal enemy, inflicting daily losses on its soldiers and vehicles, and all of [Israeli prime minister Benjamin] Netanyahu’s bets and dreams of achieving any of his goals are failing,” the Gaza-based resistance movement added.

Hamas also vowed that Israel’s ongoing crimes and aggression against Gaza would be met with increased resistance and painful strikes, which will continue until the aggression against Palestinians ends and the regime fully withdraws from the blockaded territory.

As the war in Gaza enters its 14th month, the Health Ministry reports that Israeli attacks have killed at least 43,603 Palestinians and wounded 102,929 others.

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News Network
November 4,2024

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Hundreds of Israeli settlers conducted a brutal attack in the occupied West Bank city of Ramallah.

The settlers set fire to numerous homes and vehicles of Palestinians and then moved to the main road connecting Ramallah to other cities, targeting Palestinian cars passing by.

They stormed the city of al-Bireh, near Ramallah, and burned Palestinian property and vehicles.

A woman sustained injuries after the settlers hurled stones at her vehicle, according to Palestinian news outlets.

Tension has been running high across the West Bank because of Israel’s genocidal war in the Gaza Strip, which has killed at least 43,341 people, mostly women and children, since last year’s October.

The Monday settler attack came as the Palestinian resistance movement Hamas warned of Israel’s plans to annex the West Bank and drive Palestinians out.

“We warn of the grave danger posed by the plans led by the extremist occupation regime and illegal settler groups to displace the residents of Palestinian villages in the occupied West Bank,” Hamas official Mahmoud Mardawi said.

Israel's far-right minister Bezalel Smotrich called for the full annexation of the West Bank and the Gaza Strip last week.

Smotrich asserted that Israel should unequivocally declare there would be no Palestinian state.

He repeated his proposal of expanding Israeli settlements within the West Bank and other occupied territories.

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