A committee representing consumers suing Johnson & Johnson over its talcum-based baby powder products is challenging a bid to use bankruptcy to freeze litigation against the company and retailers that sold the product, WSJ Pro Bankruptcy reported. The committee, which represents consumers who allege exposure to J&J’s talcum products caused cancer, said in a court filing on Tuesday in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Trenton, N.J., that pausing civil lawsuits against J&J, which is not in bankruptcy, could prevent tens of thousands of people dying from ovarian cancer and mesothelioma from having their day in court. J&J faces about 38,000 talc-injury cases that alleged talc-based Johnson’s Baby Powder contained asbestos, a cancer-causing mineral, an allegation J&J has denied. The consumer goods giant moved the talc-injury cases to bankruptcy court last year through a newly formed subsidiary, which filed for chapter 11 in October. J&J stopped selling talcum powder-based products in the U.S. and Canada in 2020 and has maintained that the powder is safe and doesn’t contain asbestos.
