In October 2019, Johnson & Johnson plunged on asbestos concerns from the US FDA.
Investors feared the worst. All after the company recalled a single lot of Johnson’s Baby Powder. In fact, according to the company’s press release:
“Out of an abundance of caution, Johnson & Johnson Consumer Inc. (JJCI) announced that it is initiating a voluntary recall in the United States of a single lot of its Johnson’s Baby Powder in response to a U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) test indicating the presence of sub-trace levels of chrysotile asbestos contamination (no greater than 0.00002%) in samples from a single bottle purchased from an online retailer.”
They were taking precautionary steps.
However, it appears the US FDA was wrong, as Johnson & Johnson said recent tests on its Johnson’s Baby Powder was free of asbestos. According to Reuters, “A total of 155 tests were conducted by two different third-party labs using four different testing methods on samples from the same bottle tested by the FDA’s contracted lab, the company said.”
“The tests are the latest effort by J&J to prove the safety of its widely used consumer product after the test by the FDA prompted J&J to undertake a nationwide recall of one lot of Johnson’s Baby Powder in October.”
Shares of JNJ are now up more than 1.4% on the news to $139.10.
