Johnson & Johnson recalls single lot of Baby Powder after asbestos trace found

US drug company Johnson & Johnson said on Friday it would recall a single lot of its Baby Powder in the US after the Food and Drug Administration found trace amounts of asbestos in samples taken from a bottle purchased online.

According to the firm, the recall is limited to one lot of its Baby Powder produced and shipped in the US last year. The watchdog’s test indicated the presence of no greater than 0.00002 percent of chrysotile asbestos in the tested sample.

Asbestos is a term for a group of minerals often found in talc, which is widely used in cosmetics. Exposure to it may increase risks of a number of diseases such as lung cancer and mesothelioma.

The company’s consumer unit said it was too early to confirm whether cross-contamination of the sample had caused a false positive, whether it was taken from a bottle with an intact seal or whether the sample was prepared in a controlled environment. The drug maker added that it could not confirm whether the product was authentic or counterfeit.

J&J, which is facing thousands of lawsuits related to products containing talc, said in a statement: “Thousands of tests over the past 40 years repeatedly confirm that our consumer talc products do not contain asbestos.”

READ MORE: Hidden ‘for decades’: Johnson & Johnson may have known about ‘carcinogens’ in baby powder since 1971

The pharmaceutical company has repeatedly said that its talc products were safe and asbestos-free.

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