Johnson & Johnson recalls its Baby Powder after FDA finds asbestos in sample

Johnson & Johnson, which for decades has insisted that its Baby Powder contains zero asbestos, has recalled one lot of the product—about 33 000 bottles—after the US Food and Drug Administration found asbestos in a sample bought online.

The company said that it was acting from “an abundance of caution” in withdrawing the lot numbered 22318RB, although the FDA advised consumers who had bought Baby Powder from that lot to “stop using it immediately.”

The FDA said that it had tested bottles from two different lots and found chrysotile asbestos—the type most associated with adverse health effects—in one of them. The agency has a long running programme of buying consumer products itself and testing them. …