A Tennessee congressman is pushing for a government probe into the costs of treating individuals who have been injured by asbestos in Johnson & Johnson talcum powder products.
On February 21, the legislator wrote to the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) demanding a review of public expenditures for persons diagnosed with ailments such as ovarian cancer and mesothelioma that may have been caused by asbestos in Johnson's Baby Powder and other goods.
According to the letter, J&J sold infant powder that was known to be tainted with asbestos, a known carcinogen, for decades. As a result, hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of men and women are now suffering from ovarian cancer and mesothelioma. The federal government supported J&J by paying for the repercussions of their misbehavior through healthcare spending. The letter further stated that the congressman is interested in learning how much taxpayer money was spent on this business subsidy.
The legislator also requested that the GAO investigate how much money has been spent by the Departments of Defense, Veterans Affairs, Justice, and Health and Human Services on health care and medical treatments for persons diagnosed with talcum powder-related illnesses since 1972.
According to the letter, Johnson & Johnson has known since the 1970s that their Baby Powder products included asbestos and that the particles present in talc might cause cancer. Yet, he claims that the firm continued to sell contaminated talcum powder goods, primarily targeting women of color and women who are overweight.
The request comes as thousands of talcum powder cancer lawsuits filed against Johnson & Johnson remain in the federal bankruptcy system after the multinational corporation attempted to spin off all liability for failing to warn about asbestos risks into a new subsidiary, which then declared bankruptcy.
Johnson & Johnson is facing over 38,000 Baby Powder cases and Shower-to-Shower lawsuits, all of which include identical claims filed by people who developed ovarian cancer, mesothelioma, and other diseases after being exposed to harmful asbestos particles.
If such instances result in talcum powder lawsuit awards or settlements by the manufacturer, the United States government would be entitled to recover its share of Medicare and Medicaid-covered medical expenditures. However, the litigation has been stalled for the past year because Johnson & Johnson decided to pursue a talcum powder bankruptcy scheme known as the "Texas Two Step," despite the fact that the company has billions of dollars in assets to cover the damages caused by their actions over the past several decades.
The letter comes only weeks after the United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit rejected the Johnson & Johnson bankruptcy, ruling that the wholly owned subsidiary formed to absorb this case is not in financial difficulty. But, Johnson & Johnson is still challenging that ruling, requesting a rehearing and signaling that it plans to continue delaying the dispute by seeking review by the United States Supreme Court.
