New York (AFP)
The American group Johnson & Johnson announced Tuesday that it would stop selling in the United States and Canada its talcum-based baby powder, whose sales had already declined due to changing habits and a distrust of the product.
The pharmaceutical and hygiene products company has indeed faced thousands of complaints in recent years accusing its talcum powder of containing asbestos and causing cancer, and has been condemned on several occasions in this context.
Johnson & Johnson has always said, however, that its baby powder does not contain asbestos and does not cause cancer.
Even if he suspends the sale, he intends to continue to defend "vigorously" the product and its safety and said again Tuesday that he won all the verdicts on appeal.
But "as part of a product portfolio review conducted in March following the appearance of the Covid-19, the Johnson & Johnson division dedicated to consumer health products stopped delivering hundreds of products to the states -United States and Canada to give priority to products in high demand and to allow social distancing in manufacturing plants and delivery warehouses, "said the group in a press release.
In the process, he decided to definitively suspend the sale of around 100 references in the United States and Canada, including talcum powder for babies.
"The demand for Johnson & Johnson talcum powder in North America has already declined due in large part to changes in consumer habits," the group said. And the decline has been "accelerated by misinformation about product safety and a constant burst of publicity prompting complaints" against the powder, he added.
The product will still be available in countries where "there is significant demand from consumers".
© 2020 AFP