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all 139 comments

[–]TheFudge 724 points725 points  (52 children)

When a company offers $9BILLION you can bet your ass it’s a bigger problem than is being let on.

[–]bejammin075 288 points289 points  (9 children)

50 years of airborne powdered asbestos in nearly every home.

[–]Resident-Librarian40 26 points27 points  (7 children)

My mom also sprinkled it on the mattress (under the fitted sheet) and in the pillow cases. So, of course, when I grew up and moved out, I did, too. For years.

[–]skunk_ink 190 points191 points  (16 children)

Especially when over the last 30 years they have made approximately $600 billion in profits. $9 billion is fucking nothing. Also let's not forget the hand they played in addicting millions of people to opioids.

[–]hooty88 18 points19 points  (2 children)

This is my problem with settlements. This isn't going to really hurt them at all, and it feels like that's not real justice- it's just throwing money at problems you made.

[–]GoodPeopleAreFodder 2 points3 points  (0 children)

The cost of doing business.

[–]joseph_jojo_shabadoo 14 points15 points  (0 children)

And yet it’s still 1% of their revenue the past decade

[–]peon2 56 points57 points  (17 children)

They deserve to pay. My only problem is that they as the end manufacturer are the big guys on the hook and their supplier fucked off near scot free.

Talc is a naturally occurring mineral (magnesium silicate) that happens to be prevalent in areas that asbestos is as well. The company Imerys is who mined the talc, "supposedly" purified it, and then sold contaminated product to J&J as clean to use for their baby powder.

J&J is the bigger guy so why sue the smaller company when you can sue the multi-billion dollar company and get a bigger pay out? Imerys declares bankruptcy and dodges all responsibility from the law suits and gets no bad press.

Everyone and their mother knows that J&J are scummy but the company that was the root cause of the problem gets no news time because they are smaller.

As someone that sells chemicals for industrial use, we have to qualify our chemicals with all of our customers (and they with their customers). If we send them clean samples to analyze, get the FDA approval, and then send them contaminated product, in my mind that is more on us not them.

Edit: And for some other comments in here that I see. Talc is not harmful. Talc with asbestos in it is obviously harmful just like water with asbestos is harmful. If it's purified correctly it is fine to use.

[–]Myrdrahl 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Sounds like a good way to outsource responsibility, which you shouldn't (obviously) be able to do. Oh, I'm sorry, I didn't know that cheap contractor in Bangladesh was using child slave labor...

[–]CommonConfusables 1 point2 points  (0 children)

When it potentially contributes to reproductive issues and cancer…

[–]Outrageous_Garlic306 0 points1 point  (0 children)

They’ve got nerve calling the claims “specious.”

[–]tdogg241 133 points134 points  (7 children)

If the fine is less than the profit made, it's just the cost of doing business.

[–]Jerrymoviefan3 51 points52 points  (2 children)

When one of your scientists tells you that you need to mine talc in the areas with far less dangerous asbestos you really should pay attention.

[–]Gobaxnova 11 points12 points  (1 child)

Sir this is a business, we only listen to profit forecasts here

[–]RobinsShaman 20 points21 points  (0 children)

So that means they can afford $90b?

[–]-Dalzik- 11 points12 points  (3 children)

Do we all get a $5 voucher for talcum powder? 😄

[–]TurnkeyLurker 0 points1 point  (2 children)

And it's only good for the old style of asbestos-talc baby powder.

[–]skunk_ink 3 points4 points  (0 children)

Doesn't even need to be old. It just has to be bought outside of the USA and Canada within the past year. You should be able to still find being sold online.

[–]DragonflyValuable128 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Talc Classic

[–]Ottobahn- 93 points94 points  (6 children)

In other words, a drop in the bucket compared to their actual worth, thus a fee of doing cancer causing business rather than actual consequences.

Note how they’re still doubling down on their ignorance and “lack of scientific evidence”, all while offering this multi-billion dollar settlement (which was upped from $2b) and swapping out their cancer causing formula. But no worries, they’re only offering $9 billion to spare the claimants years of legal issues. Everything’s fine.

To the claimants, it’s obviously an incredible win/offer. Just a shame yet another corp gets a relative slap on the wrist, all while continuing to claim innocence and continuing on as if nothing happened.

[–]AlexandrinaIsHere 16 points17 points  (2 children)

They're still selling talc to other countries.

Which means here in USA you can get talc powder on Amazon.

They need to go down.

[–]woundedbearhair 5 points6 points  (1 child)

It’s not the talc that’s harmful…it’s the added asbestos…

[–]seaspirit331 14 points15 points  (0 children)

Asbestos is a naturally-occurring mineral that is commonly found in talc deposits. It was there the whole time

[–]Mr2Sexy 28 points29 points  (5 children)

I used to use talcum powder all the time as a kid. Would always cover playing cards in it when they start getting old and sticky from use. Wonder if I will develope cancer from this shit in 20 - 30 years

[–]YamburglarHelper 5 points6 points  (2 children)

Get yourself screened now?

[–]WhoDat-2-8-3 4 points5 points  (1 child)

Nah .. I'll wait until I'm 80

[–]Dzotshen 2 points3 points  (0 children)

And sleep when I'm dead

[–]2boredtocare 4 points5 points  (0 children)

It's water under the bridge at this point, but we used J&J talc a LOT when I was growing up. My mom used it the most, and died from ovarian cancer in 2011. Makes me wonder what I've used on my own kids that may possibly be cancer-inducing later.

[–]t7george 11 points12 points  (1 child)

How about the corporate death penalty with those in C-level leadership head accountable.

[–]GILDID 16 points17 points  (10 children)

9 billion is the price tag for causing cancer of how many people?

[–]NetZeroSum 10 points11 points  (0 children)

No. It's the price tag of making a whole fucking lot of profit to the point that a 9 billion bailout settlement by a corporation is like 'meh okay, lets move on'.

A company will lock your case for years and all chances for appeals over a million dollars let alone 9 billion, either that or the legal fees exceed the case and go for an out of court bribe.

[–]Minimum-Percentage-6 6 points7 points  (0 children)

My mom has had ovarian cancer and I’m pretty sure it is due to this Johnson and Johnson baby powder. My mom doesn’t like the new cornstarch kind she complains about it and wants the other kind. I’m glad they’ve changed it. I wish my mom would put in a lawsuit so she can get some claim money.

[–]Muzzerduzzer 13 points14 points  (2 children)

I still have a bottle of "body powder" that has talc in it. I stopped using it a long time ago but I keep it around to shake in front of my brother and threaten him if he doesn't take care of his snow boots. I keep the cap on of course.

[–]DiarrheaShitLord 22 points23 points  (1 child)

Damn you threaten your brother with cancer that's harsh

[–]Muzzerduzzer 6 points7 points  (0 children)

He's 8 and thinks it will give him instant cancer. He also thinks cancer is covid.

[–]macebob 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Stuff’s been all over my ass. That’s 9 billions per case, right?

[–]ChaunceTime 5 points6 points  (3 children)

I used to eat this stuff when I was little, like 3 or 4 years old. I wonder what cancer(s) I’ve developed.

[–]2459-8143-2844 6 points7 points  (2 children)

Colon and stomach? Some of the worst kind.

[–]ChaunceTime 0 points1 point  (1 child)

Probably. Gotta die of something sooner or later, I guess.

[–]2459-8143-2844 0 points1 point  (0 children)

If it makes you feel any better, I used the stuff for like 2 years pretty regularly.

[–]HorsesMeow 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I thought they were attempting to spin off a company, park the lawsuit there, and then go bankrupt, like coal companies do to get rid of pension obligations. I guess a judge must have warned them. - Too many people suffered unnecessarily. J&J knew there was asbestos in the talc.

[–]Worldly_Ad1295 -1 points0 points  (0 children)

Ok .... Alex, can I get my job back now???

[–]icnoevil -1 points0 points  (0 children)

A new poster boy for capitalism at its worst.

[–]aaron301 -2 points-1 points  (2 children)

Didn't they ready lose the lawsuit to this then they made another company to buy the debt and foreclosed it

[–]cold_iron_76 7 points8 points  (1 child)

Not quite. They tried to use a law to split that portion of the business into a separate company and declare bankruptcy. The court recently ruled they could not do that. Thus, they're trying to settle now.

[–]The_Goondocks 0 points1 point  (0 children)

That's a lot of Aaron Rodgers jerseys