asbestos News

Study: Little Asbestos Found After Detroit House Demolitions

Cost-savings and public safety benefits by swiftly demolishing dangerous vacant houses in Detroit could outweigh the risk of asbestos exposure to people in neighborhoods, according to researchers at the University of Michigan. A study of 25 emergency demolitions found small …

J&J Ordered by Jury to Pay $9 Million in Talc-Cancer Case

Johnson & Johnson was ordered by a Florida jury to pay $9 million to an 82-year-old woman who blamed asbestos-tainted talc for her cancer, the latest court loss for the company in U.S. litigation over its iconic baby powder. Jurors …

FDA to Hold Public Meeting on Testing for Asbestos In Talc

SILVER SPRING, Md., — For the first time in nearly 50 years, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration will examine asbestos testing for talc powders and cosmetics at a hearing on Tuesday. Regulators are taking a closer look after finding …

Environmental Contamination Shuts Down Pennsylvania Schools

Students at three Pennsylvania schools were told to stay home Thursday amid ongoing concerns over lead and asbestos contamination, as state police investigate what former district officials did to address problems with tainted water. One day after Gov. Tom Wolf …

Government Experts Urge New Talc Testing Standards Amid Asbestos Worries

An expert panel formed by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration has endorsed asbestos testing standards for cosmetics that reject long-held industry positions and reflect those of public health authorities and experts for thousands of plaintiffs who allege contaminated talc …

Study Casts Doubt That Baby Powder Use Raises Risks of Ovarian Cancer

A study of more than 250,000 women found that those who used talc or other personal-hygiene powders weren’t significantly more likely to develop ovarian cancer, news that will impact thousands of legal claims against drugmaker Johnson & Johnson over the …

J&J Said to Pay More Than $2 Million in Rare Talc Settlement

Johnson & Johnson agreed in the middle of a trial to pay more than $2 million to resolve a woman’s claims that asbestos-laced baby powder caused her cancer, according to people familiar with the case. The settlement marks a rare …

Why Big Business Can Count on Courts to Keep its Deadly Secrets

NEWARK, New Jersey — In the dreary archives of a Newark, New Jersey, courthouse, Ronald Motley found a treasure map. It was an evidence log, a detailed inventory of documents and other exhibits that had been used in an injured …

J&J CEO Spurns U.S. Congressional Hearing on Carcinogens in Talc Products

Johnson & Johnson Chief Executive Officer Alex Gorsky has declined to appear at a U.S. congressional hearing set for Tuesday on the safety of the company’s Baby Powder and other talc-based cosmetics. In an announcement, the House of Representatives Subcommittee …

Powder Keg: FDA Bowed to Industry for Decades as Alarms Were Sounded Over Talc

At an invitation-only gathering late last year, U.S. regulators and their guests huddled at a hotel near Washington, D.C., to discuss the best way to detect cancer-causing asbestos in talc powders and cosmetics. The “Asbestos in Talc Symposium,” sponsored by …