Minnesota will receive more than $10.5 million over three years through a settlement announced this week that resolves deceptive marketing allegations in the sale of Johnson & Johnon's talc-based body and baby powder products.
The New Jersey-based company did not admit any wrongdoing. It agreed to pay $700 million to settle an investigation by 42 U.S. states and Washington, D.C., into its marketing of products blamed for allegedly causing cancer, Reuters reported on Tuesday.
The attorneys general claimed Johnson & Johnson deceptively promoted and misled consumers in advertisements related to the safety and purity of its talc powder products. In a news release this week, the office of Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison said the company failed to disclose that asbestos was present in its talc products, and that it was harmful and may cause cancer.
"These products were marketed primarily to women as a means of absorbing moisture, preventing chafing, and/or preventing odor in the genital region," according to the release issued Tuesday. "They were marketed as 'safe' and 'pure' despite Johnson & Johnson knowing that it could not ensure the talc mined and used in its products was free of asbestos."
In a company statement to Reuters, Erik Haas, J&J worldwide vice president of litigation, said Johnson & Johnson "continues to pursue several paths to achieve a comprehensive and final resolution of the talc litigation." He added: "We will continue to address the claims of those who do not want to participate in our contemplated consensual bankruptcy resolution through litigation or settlement."
Personal injury victims may be compensated for their injuries through a separate bankruptcy court process, Ellison's office said. Consumers who believe they may have personal injury claims against Johnson & Johnson can visit a website for more information.
"Johnson & Johnson sold talc powder products for over a hundred years," including Johnson's Baby Powder and Shower to Shower, the news release stated. "After the coalition of states began investigating, the company stopped distributing and selling these products in the United States and more recently ended global sales."
