The Deal with the Baby Powder
Recently, Reuters published an article claiming that the talc Johnson and Johnson used to produce its baby powder, among other things, was highly contaminated with asbestos. They further claimed that J&J knew since the late 1950's. Considering that baby powder is, after all, used on babies and many parents are likely to become worried about whether or not this is an issue I feel it is a good idea to go over the evidence. The claim that J&J was hiding a carcinogen in their talc products is a pretty extraordinary one. And as Carl Sagan put it, "Extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence." It seems even more extraordinary when there are multiple scientists backing up J&J's claims of safety. So does Reuters have the evidence to back it? Sadly, it seems they do. The strongest piece of evidence presented are the reports from outside labs, as early as 1957, that show detectable amounts of asbestos minerals in the talc. The 1957 and 1958 reports ...