Sri Lanka has put a stop to the import of Johnson & Johnson baby powder in the country until J&J product is proved to be free from asbestos and other cancer-causing agents. As per a report in Reuters, Sri Lanka imports the baby powder from J&J India and has asked for ‘fresh test results’ to prove that the product is safe to use.
An earlier investigation by Reuters had claimed that the company’s talcum powder was contaminated by carcinogenic asbestos, making it poisonous and life-threatening for women using it on themselves. The main allegation of the report was that Johnson & Johnson knew this all along but decided to hide it.
Speaking to Reuters, Kamal Jayasinghe, chief executive of Sri Lanka’s National Medicine Regulatory Authority (NMRA), said that they had notified the distributor (A.Baur & Co.) that they required fresh test results to continue the imports.
We have held their re-registration and informed the distributor to submit quality reports from an accredited laboratory to ensure there is no asbestos in their products.
The officials from A.Baur & Co. have informed J&J India about the suspension of the licence and halting of the imports.
Reuters reports that a spokesperson from J&J India didn’t comment on the halt of services to Sri Lanka but said that the company “is in full compliance with current Indian regulatory requirements for the manufacturing and testing of our talc”.
J&J has always denied claims about the presence of asbestos in their baby powder.
Earlier, as reported by Chicago Tribune, the company attorneys told Reuters that the results that revealed the presence of asbestos were actually from the talc batches meant for industrial uses, not for baby powder.
Thousands of independent tests by regulators and the world’s leading labs prove our baby powder has never contained asbestos.Johnson & Johnson
As per an earlier report in Zee News, Indian drug inspectors had seized some samples of Johnson & Johnson’s baby powder from a manufacturing plant in Himachal Pradesh. There was no official statement from the company though.
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