A deadly dusting
U.S. Rep. Katie Porter, known for her masterly poster board take downs of corporate mighty men has turned her sights on Johnson & Johnson. The don’t-mess-with-me California congresswoman noted this week that the company is moving to sever its Baby Powder component in light of lawsuits from tens of thousands of women. “Johnson & Johnson filed in court last week to split its Baby Powder from the rest of the company,” Porter tweeted. “Why? J&J knew asbestos laced some bottles but kept it a secret for decades. Tens of thousands of women with ovarian cancer are suing, and the company wants to shield its assets. J&J sold the powder for 60 years, and now that it has to pay for these women’s medical bills, it wants the courts to treat ‘Johnson & Johnson Baby Powder’ as a separate company.” The company, which denies the claims, is alleged to have aggressively marketed to Black women as a product that would “maintain freshness and cleanliness.” Now there’s a winning corporate strategy: First prey on women’s insecurities about their bodies and then fail to disclose information about traces of asbestos in your product.
AK