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Shares of Johnson & Johnson fell as much as 6% Friday amid reports the US Justice Department is pursuing a criminal investigation into the company. The DOJ is looking into whether J&J lied about the possible cancer risks of its talcum powder, according to the Bloomberg report. Lawsuits alleging the products are responsible for cancer have cited internal memos dated as far back as the 1960s that warn asbestos could be found in J&J talc products. Nearly a dozen court cases have concluded the company knew some of their Baby Powder products had at least trace amounts of asbestos and...

Johnson & Johnson shares sank 8% Friday after Reuters reported that the pharmaceutical giant knew for decades that its baby powder contained asbestos. Reuters reviewed documents, deposition, and trial testimony from at least 1971 to the early 2000s that it said showed powders and raw talc sometimes tested positively for small traces of asbestos. Furthermore, "company executives, mine managers, scientists, doctors, and lawyers fretted over the problem and how to address it while failing to disclose it to regulators or the public," the Reuters reporter Lisa Girion wrote. Johnson & Johnson issued a statement on Friday in response to the...

Internal documents show that the company's powder was sometimes tainted with carcinogenic asbestos and that J&J kept the information quiet. J&J didn’t tell the FDA that at least three tests by three different labs from 1972 to 1975 had found asbestos in its talc — in one case at levels reported as “rather high.”

Johnson & Johnson Hid For Decades That There Was Asbestos Was In Their Baby PowderJohnson & Johnson reportedly has known about asbestos in Baby Powder since the early 1970s. From Reuters: Johnson & Johnson knew for decades that asbestos lurked in its Baby Powder Facing thousands of lawsuits alleging that its talc caused cancer, J&J insists on the safety and purity of its iconic product. But internal documents examined by Reuters show that the company's powder was sometimes tainted with carcinogenic asbestos and that J&J kept that information from regulators and the public. Darlene Coker knew she was dying. She...

A California judge on Friday threw out a $417 million verdict against Johnson & Johnson in a lawsuit by a woman who claimed she developed ovarian cancer after using its talc-based products like Johnson’s Baby Powder for feminine hygiene. The ruling by Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Maren Nelson marked the latest setback facing women and family members who accuse J&J of not adequately warning consumers about the cancer risks of its talc-based products. The decision followed a jury’s decision in August to hit J&J with the largest verdict to date in the litigation, awarding California resident Eva Echeverria $70...