DeLauro Requests Update from AG Garland on Johnson & Johnson Grand Jury
Chair of the House Appropriations Committee Rosa DeLauro (CT-03) today sent a letter to Attorney General Merrick Garland requesting that he provide an update on the federal grand jury that reportedly has been impaneled to look into potential "criminal activities" by Johnson and Johnson (J&J) related to talcum powder products. The letter can be found here.
"Johnson and Johnson knew their talcum powder products increase the risk of ovarian cancer as early as the late 60s," said Chair DeLauro. "There is evidence that J&J engaged in a premeditated assault on women of color when marketing these products. This is an unacceptable example of corporate greed, putting profits above the very lives of its most trusting customers, women. As an ovarian cancer survivor, I know the pain and anguish and fear that these women have gone through and are experiencing now. There is an added layer of horror when you understand that many of these women were being targeted with asbestos because of their race. It is unconscionable."
Thousands of individuals have been harmed as a result of J&J withholding information about the negative health effects of Talc powder from its customers. In many cases, individuals have died.
In September 2020, Congresswoman DeLauro wrote to the then CEO of Johnson & Johnson, Alex Gorsky, demanding the company recall all Talc based baby powder products and demanded that J&J stop all marketing and sales of this product around the world, specifically to women.
Most recently, the Congresswoman was made aware that in 1992 and in 2004, J&J specifically targeted African American and Hispanic women to increase their sales of a product that J&J knew contained asbestos, a carcinogen. Thousands of men and women could also develop mesothelioma because of the asbestos in J&J's baby powder and shower products.
As DeLauro outlines in her letter to Attorney General Garland, J&J has sought bankruptcy protection through what is known as the "Texas Two-Step," a procedure used by companies to dump liabilities in a newly created subsidiary, all while shielding their ongoing businesses from the burdens of bankruptcy.
"Bankruptcy laws were not meant to protect a company with a market cap of close to $460 billion, with annual revenues in excess of 85 billion, and credit rating higher than the US government," continued DeLauro. "The thousands of women who are going through ovarian cancer treatments, those who will contract ovarian cancer in the future, and the families who have suffered the loss of a sister, a mother, a daughter, a wife, or a grandmother deserve justice."