J&J shares plunge 9% after report that the company knew for decades about asbestos in baby powder

[Satanica]

Bastards!

https://www.cnbc.com/2018/12/14/joh...r-decades-of-asbestos-in-its-baby-powder.html

[....]
Reuters based its report on a review of documents and deposition and trial testimony. It said the review showed that from 1971 to the early 2000s, J&J executives, mine managers, doctors and lawyers were aware the company's raw talc and finished powders sometimes tested positive for small amounts of asbestos. Those involved discussed the problem but they did not disclose it to regulators or the public, Reuters' examination found.

The company released a statement Friday calling the Reuters article "one-sided, false and inflammatory."

"Simply put, the Reuters story is an absurd conspiracy theory, in that it apparently has spanned over 40 years, orchestrated among generations of global regulators, the world's foremost scientists and universities, leading independent labs, and J&J employees themselves," the company said in a statement.

By midday Friday, J&J stock was down 8.83 percent, on pace for its worst day in more than a decade, when its shares closed down 15.85 on July 19, 2002. The stock dropped as much as 11.9 percent Friday.

On top of likely being the stock's biggest drop since 2002, the plunge was likely a shock for shareholders used to a boring consumer staple that moves in much steadier increments than the overall market and more volatile stocks. J&J's stock beta over the last five years is 0.72, meaning that it swings much less than the market on a daily basis. A beta of 1 would mean it moves equal to the market and greater than 1 means it is more volatile than the S&P 500.

"Plaintiffs' attorneys out for personal financial gain are distorting historical documents and intentionally creating confusion in the courtroom and in the media," Ernie Knewitz, J&J's vice president of global media relations, told Reuters in an email. "This is all a calculated attempt to distract from the fact that thousands of independent tests prove our talc does not contain asbestos or cause cancer. Any suggestion that Johnson & Johnson knew or hid information about the safety of talc is false."

The company has faced a wave of lawsuits alleging its talc baby powder products contain asbestos and caused ovarian and other cancers. Some juries have sided with J&J and others have been unable to reach verdicts. A Missouri jury in July ordered J&J to pay $4.69 billion in a case involving 22 women and their families. A judge affirmed the verdict in August and J&J vowed to appeal it.
[....]
Read J&J's full statement below:

"The Reuters article is one-sided, false and inflammatory. Simply put, the Reuters story is an absurd conspiracy theory, in that it apparently has spanned over 40 years, orchestrated among generations of global regulators, the world's foremost scientists and universities, leading independent labs, and J&J employees themselves.

Johnson & Johnson's baby powder is safe and asbestos-free. Studies of more than 100,000 men and women show that talc does not cause cancer or asbestos-related disease. Thousands of independent tests by regulators and the world's leading labs prove our baby powder has never contained asbestos.
J&J attorneys provided Reuters with hundreds of documents and directly responded to dozens of questions in order to correct misinformation and falsehoods. Notwithstanding this, Reuters repeatedly refused to meet with our representatives to review the facts and refused to incorporate much of the material we provided them.​

Reuters article is wrong in three key areas: The article ignores that thousands of tests by J&J, regulators, leading independent labs, and academic institutions have repeatedly shown that our talc does not contain asbestos. The article ignores that J&J has cooperated fully and openly with the U.S. FDA and other global regulators, providing them with all the information they requested over decades. We have also made our cosmetic talc mines and processed talc available to regulators for testing. Regulators have tested both, and they have always found our talc to be asbestos-free. The article ignores that J&J has always used the most advanced testing methods available to confirm that our cosmetic talc does not contain asbestos. Every method available to test J&J's talc for asbestos has been used by J&J, regulators, or independent experts, and all of these methods have all found that our cosmetic talc is asbestos-free.

Johnson & Johnson will continue to defend the safety of our product. For the truth and facts about talc, please go to www.factsabouttalc.com."

​

 

[Sejanus]

Well that's a special kind of greed meet evil

 

[Turd Fergusen]

Just what the Dow Jones needed today. NOT!

JNJ's Response:

https://www.jnj.com/our-company/johnson-johnson-issues-statement-on-reuters-talc-article

 

[Satanica]

NEW BRUNSWICK, N.J. (Reuters) - Johnson & Johnson Chief Executive Alex Gorsky on Monday faced questions from plaintiffs lawyers over the timing of his sale of company stock, as he testified for the first time in a jury trial over allegations that the company’s Baby Powder causes cancer.

Gorsky told the jury that he had sold company shares in November 2018, two days after a Reuters reporter contacted the company and summarized in an email her review of documents that showed J&J knew small amounts of asbestos had been found in its talc on occasion since 1971.

Gorsky testified that he was not shown the email from the Reuters reporter at the time of the stock sale.

On Dec. 14, 2018, Reuters published the story that showed J&J had failed to disclose that small amounts of asbestos, a known carcinogen, had sometimes been found in its talc over several decades. After the Reuters report was published, a selloff wiped out more than $40 billion from the company’s market value.
[....]
“My trade took place at a time when I did not have that kind of knowledge about the article,” Gorsky said on Monday. Gorsky testified that he followed all of the appropriate approval processes with the company’s board of directors and legal team regarding the sale of company shares after exercising stock options.

J&J faces more than 16,000 lawsuits alleging it sold powders contaminated with asbestos and failed to warn users. It also faces a federal criminal investigation into how forthright it has been about the products’ safety.

Filings made by J&J to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission show that Gorsky sold $38.6 million of company stock on Nov. 16, two days after Reuters made its findings known to the company.

On Monday, Gorsky acknowledged that his net proceeds totaled about $22 million. In response to questions from a lawyer representing J&J, Gorsky reiterated that he had not been told about the Reuters email in advance of the stock sale.

He also acknowledged that he sold less than 10% of his holdings in the company in that transaction and that the shares would be worth more now if he had held onto them.

A J&J spokesman said that Gorsky had notified the company’s legal department about the planned sale on Nov. 12, 2018, two days before the Reuters inquiry.
[....]
Gorsky was subpoenaed by plaintiffs’ lawyers as a witness in a trial playing out in a courtroom near J&J headquarters. The plaintiffs, three men and one woman, all have mesothelioma, a rare and incurable cancer that they allege was caused by their exposure to asbestos in Baby Powder in infancy during their diapering.

During an earlier liability phase of the trial, a jury awarded $37.2 million in compensatory damages. Now plaintiffs’ lawyers are seeking to persuade a new jury that J&J failed to do enough to ensure the purity of its product, and therefore additional punitive damages should be awarded.

“I was told by the experts in their fields that we were using the most appropriate, most up-to-date technology to make sure our talc was safe,” Gorsky testified.

In response to a question posed by plaintiffs’ lawyers, Gorsky also told the jury he did not read all the internal company documents related to potential asbestos contamination in Baby Powder, including those contained in links in the Reuters report.
[....]
J&J had fought against the subpoena, arguing that its CEO had no first-hand knowledge about the safety of its powders and that the case involves corporate conduct that occurred long before he joined the company.

Compelling his testimony “would serve no purpose other than to harass Mr. Gorsky and divert him from his executive responsibilities,” J&J said in a motion.

The New Jersey Supreme Court turned down the company’s request to suspend the subpoena last week.

In October, J&J disclosed that a contract lab for the U.S. Food and Drug Administration had found asbestos in a bottle of Baby Powder produced in 2018. The company questioned the finding and commissioned tests on samples from the same bottle and talc from the same lot.

Less than two weeks later, J&J announced those tests had found no asbestos, other than some contamination it blamed on an air conditioner in the lab.

Gorsky’s journey to the witness stand can be traced to the lead role he played in company efforts to rebut the Reuters report, which prompted plaintiffs lawyers to subpoena his testimony.

In the days following publication, the CEO personally attested to the safety and purity of Johnson’s Baby Powder in a video posted on the company’s website, as well as in an appearance on CNBC’s “Mad Money.”

“We unequivocally believe that our talc, our Baby Powder, does not contain asbestos,” Gorsky told the investment show’s host Jim Cramer.

J&J CEO questioned over stock sale ahead of story on asbestos in Baby Powder

Johnson & Johnson Chief Executive Alex Gorsky on Monday faced questions from plaintiffs lawyers over the timing of his sale of company stock, as he testified for the first time in a jury trial over allegations that the company's Baby Powder causes cancer.

www.reuters.com

 

[Pandorama]

So fucking stupid. Talc has mica in in. asbestos is found where mica is mined. It's quite fucking possible extremely minute traces of asbestos can be found in the mica in Talc.
It doesn't and hasn't ever caused cancer.

 

[Satanica]

I'll still use the cornstarch variety instead.