Johnson's Baby Powder will no longer be sold in the U.S. and Canada.

The decision comes as Johnson & Johnson faces thousands of lawsuits alleging that their talc-based baby powder causes cancer.

The U.S. based medical giant will "wind down" sales of the powder, according to the BBC. However, retailers will continue to sell off existing inventory.

Hit by lawsuits

In 2018, a jury in St. Louis, Missouri awarded nearly US$4.7 billion (S$6.7 billion) in damages to 22 women and their families, according to NPR.

The plaintiffs said that asbestos found in the baby powder contributed to their cases of ovarian cancer.

Johnson & Johnson appealed the decision, but in 2019, a woman in California was awarded US$29 million by a jury who said that using the baby powder caused her to develop mesothelioma, a type of cancer connected to exposure to asbestos.

The company is also appealing that decision, stating: "The jury verdicts are not medical, scientific or regulatory conclusions about a product."

However, it has successfully gotten other verdicts overturned. In Oct. 2019, a Missouri appeals court overturned a US$110 million verdict for a woman who said she developed ovarian cancer after using its talc-based products.

Company documents found by Reuters and NYT

Reuters and the New York Times published articles in Dec. 2018 claiming that it "knew for decades" that asbestos could be found in its baby powder.

They quoted company documents that warned that the mines producing the talc in the powder could be contaminated by asbestos.

Johnson & Johnson claims that talc or talcum powder has been demonstrated as safe by medical studies.

"Research, clinical evidence and nearly 40 years of studies by independent medical experts around the world continue to support the safety of talc. Talc does not cause cancer."

The company currently faces over 16,000 consumer lawsuits.

Johnson & Johnson also made the decision as part of its assessment of the company's consumer products in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic.

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