The Johnson And Johnson Case Analysis

Introduction

Johnson & Johnson is a holding corporation that participates in the research and development, manufacturing, and trade of healthcare products. The consumer sector comprises products applied in baby care, oral care, beauty products, over-the-counter pharmaceuticals, female wellbeing, and wound care products. In 2016, this big American brand Johnson & Johnson was sued for using Asbestos in Baby's talcum powder. Currently, American authorities are investigating the allegations made by consumers about contamination of the company's talc products, such as baby powder. The company is similarly facing multiple cases from thousands of its customers who claim that the use of the firm's talc products caused them cancer. The company seriously caused challenges to several stakeholders, including investors, due to its ignorance.

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Besides the cases affecting Johnson & Johnson, the firm has been widely recognized by consumers for decades with a supportively expedient image as the essential household product producer of baby powder, shampoo, and other household products. Before the allegations of Asbestos's presence in its products, consumers worldwide have been referring to the pharmaceutical giant as one of the leading reliable brands across the globe. In return, the corporation paid back the courtesy by imparting its assurance to commercial social duty in a 75-year-old "principle" emblazoned at the firm's head office.

The company is currently hit by complaints and enormous charges relating to a dizzying range of products from an anti-psychotic medicine to that renowned talc residue and an untested opium substance called Norman. At this time, a sequence of produce backfires, and court verdicts with a possible 50,000 more to come and total budding charges of $15bn are challenging both community confidence and stockholder's confidence. The pharmaceutical company has seen its status drop progressively from 9th place to 56th out of the 57 top pharmacological corporations since 2014, bestowing to one research by the United Kingdom character intellectual corporation known as Alva. This paper aims to scrutinize the information contained in exhibits presented before the court and give a thoughtful recommendation of the case.

Exhibits Presented to The Court Against Johnson & Johnson case involving Asbestos in its talcum powder products.

Predominantly, among the exhibits presented before the court, a woman filed a case in a California-based court claiming that, Asbestos in Johnson & Johnson's talcum-powder-based products caused her cancer (Weintraub,2019). Similarly, several other lawsuits in a 2017 litigation document claim that its derivatives, as well as its autograph Baby Powder, have triggered cancer and mesothelioma. In the court proceedings in which approximately 55000 complainants filed a series of cases against the company, their exhibits showed that, since 1957, there were reports from a lab that was consulting with Johnson & Johnson describing contaminants found in talc from Johnson & Jonson suppliers in Italy and Vermont. The lab's information describes the pollutants in the talc from the Italian trader as fibers and acerate or spike-like tremolite. Tremolite is one of the six crystals in their naturally stirring fibrous form that is known as Asbestos.

On the other hand, according to various reports conducted in 43 years between 1957 and early 2000, the information by researchers at Johnson & Johnson and Johnson & Johnson suppliers produced the same results. The report identified impurities in talc and finished powder products of Johnson & Johnson as contaminating talcum and Asbestos or defined them in ways naturally functional to Asbestos like fiber form or bars. Similarly, in the 1970s, the American Food and Drug Administration (FDA) set limits on Asbestos used to produce cosmetics and makeup. Despite these limitations, Johnson & Johnson continuously used Asbestos in the production of cosmetics and baby powder, even with the full knowledge of the side effects of these products' use.

Now during the years of 1970s, the FDA repeatedly kept asking Johnson and Johnson whether their products contained Asbestos and the company assured the FDA that there was no asbestos detected in samples of their talc products between the year 1972 and particularly the month of December 1972 and October 1973 (Tran et al. 2019). However, despite the FDA's numerous inquiries regarding Asbestos in their talc, the company did not disclose to the FDA that, on three different occasions, the tests that were performed on their products, particularly between the years 1972 and 1975, showed the existence of Asbestos in their talcum powder products. Some of the tests carried out on at their products demonstrated relatively high levels of Asbestos. Still, the company did not inform the FDA about these results even though the FDA kept asking its company. Moreover, between the 1980s and early 2000s, numerous studies were associating the use of talcum products with ovarian cancer. For instance, in December 2018, Reuters News released a scathing investigation that uncovered information that Johnson Johnson knew that its top supplies had sometimes tested positive for asbestos presence. Still, the company knowingly released the products to the market even with the full knowledge of the asbestos contents' side effects. In the same year, Reuters News released a more scathing revelation that uncovered the information that Johnson & Johnson knew that the company's tax supply sometimes tested positive for Asbestos for a period of 29 years between 1971 and to early 2000s.

Following the Reuters news, Senator Patty Murphy from Washington requested Johnson & Johnson's CEO Alex Gorsky regarding the past asbestos testing and contamination in the company's talcum products. On 19th May 2020, the company announced that they were discontinuing the sale of their talc-based powders in the United States and Canada due to the mounting lawsuits and low demand (Polmear et al., 2017). The talc products market is falling because the news out there is that there is an association between the use of talc-based Johnson &Johnson products and ovarian cancer and mesothelioma. Currently, the Department of Justice has an ongoing investigation into Johnson & Johnson concerning its talcum powder products. In February this year, the Department of Justice sent a summons to the company to investigate the potential presence of carcinogens in its talcum powders and whether or not it lied to the federal government about it.

On some of the trial exhibits that are discussed above, it was evident that Johnson & Johnson was aware of the potential carcinogen Asbestos in their talcum powder and did not tell the FDA about it when the agency enquired for the information. Previously, Johnson and Johnson had discovered the existence of Asbestos in their products. Therefore, the firm had the obligation to inform the FDA about it as soon as they learned that their products contained Asbestos. It could have helped control these products' consumption, and the FDA could formulate ways to ensure the company's subsequent products are free from Asbestos.

According to Drechsler et al. (2018), in the Johnson & Johnson case exhibits, some individuals have conflicting opinions. Some may argue that the company does not have a case to answer concerning Asbestos's presence in its products, such as talcum. Others may say that the company has an obligation about the mess it has done to consumers of different products worldwide. However, the company is liable for the risks and dangers it has caused to consumers worldwide. For instance, according to one of the exhibits, between the year of 1970s to 2000s, the FDA repeatedly kept asking Johnson and Johnson whether their products contained Asbestos and the company assured the FDA that there was no asbestos detected in samples of their talc product (Kallenbach,2020). The company vividly knew there were some contents of Asbestos in their products. Still, despite the FDA's numerous inquiries regarding Asbestos in their talc, the company did not disclose to the FDA that, on three different occasions, the tests that were performed on their products, particularly between the years 1972 and 1975, showed the existence of Asbestos in their talc powder products. It is a kind of dishonesty and risking the lives of innocent consumers who proudly consume Johnson & Johnson products. The primary responsibility of each business is to protect consumers' welfare and health besides making a profit.

The company should be held responsible because all the time it has been in the market for the last forty years, it knew very well that, its products had some contents of Asbestos, which causes deadly types of cancer such as ovarian cancer. Due to dishonesty, the company has hugely exposed many lives to enormous risks. It is because of greed for money and profits. For instance, if the company could have disclosed the contents of their products to the FDA, these products could have been pulled from the market to protect many consumers from the risks arising from Asbestos. Similarly, if the information could have been revealed early on time, consumers could have taken precautions against using such products as talc. By selling products that are not suitable for human consumption, Johnson & Johnson contravenes the business laws set aside by trade governments and the FDA to control harmful and poor-quality effects on the market.

Based on the evidence that the period in the 1970s, the FDA banned the use of Asbestos in cosmetics and makeup. These guidelines were because Asbestos had been discovered to cause cancer. However, despite these limitations, Johnson & Johnson continuously used Asbestos to produce cosmetics and baby powder, even with the full knowledge of the side effects of these products' use. By doing this, the company contravened the FDA guidelines, which were to be used to ensure the quality of products met the required quality. With respect to these FDA guidelines, Johnson & Johnson acted maliciously. Therefore, the firm should carry the burden of compensating the consumers who have lost their lives and loved ones due to the consumption of products with high contents of harmful cancer-causing Asbestos. The company also acted illegally and violated consumer rights. Consumers have the right to be provided with high-quality products and worth the amount they pay. In regards to this, Johnson & Johnson violated consumer rights. Therefore, the company should cease its operations until the thousands of lawsuits which has already been filed in courts are heard and determined. It means that products such as talc should be banned from the market pending the hearing and determination of cases already filed before the court.

Recommendations About the Case

Due to the risk implications that are likely to be posed by consuming products accused of containing Asbestos, there should be thorough laboratory tests on the said products to prove whether the allegations are true or mere speculations. Suppose the allegations are confirmed to be accurate. In that case, the consumers of these products should be encouraged to begin medical tests to make sure any affected individual can start medication early on time to avert the adverse effects that can arise as a result of the presence of asbestos chemicals in the body. Moreover, the company should be held liable to compensate the investors and other stakeholders who have undergone substantial financial losses from the falling demand for talcum powder and other products.