The headline is accurate but misleading. It implies that, for decades, the powder has been tainted.
But in fact, the powder was only rarely tainted during a 3 year period from 1972 to 1975.
What the headline MEANS is that, for the last 3 decades, JNJ has known that there were tests on the powder in 1972-1975 that showed asbestos, and they never told anybody about it.
So this wasn’t about continuing a risk to the public, but appears to be a big big deal relative to the asbestos settlements.
And when the asbestos was found, did they do nothing about it, like switching their talc suppliers?
And J&J should have used the famous Micronite filter; readily available even back in the 1950’s.