10/24/19 UPDATED: Recall Alert: Johnson & Johnson Baby Powder

10/24/19 UPDATE:

Major companies including CVS, Rite Aid, and Walmart are pulling Johnson & Johnson's 22-ounce baby powder containers. The move comes after the FDA found sub-trace amounts of asbestos.

In an emailed statement Rite Aid said, “Rite Aid informed all stores to pull all product from shelves and store it in a secure location. Additionally, we’ve applied a point of sale system block for this product to prevent it from being sold.”

Walmart blocked and recalled the baby powder.

In a statement to CNBC, CVS spokesman Mike DeAngelis said, “CVS Pharmacy is complying with Johnson & Johnson’s voluntary recall of Johnson’s Baby Powder 22 oz. and is removing this product from all stores and from CVS.com. We also initiated a ‘Do Not Sell’ register prompt in our stores to prevent the sale of this item during the product removal process.”

If you purchased Johnson’s Baby Powder from CVS, discontinue use and return the item for a full refund.

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The very popular Johnson’s Baby Powder has been voluntarily recalled in the United States by Johnson & Johnson because of asbestos contamination.

The recall is limited to a single lot of baby powder bottles comes after a US Food and Drug Administration test found levels of chrysotile asbestos contamination in bottles purchased online.

Check your baby powder to see if it’s from lot #22318RB which contains the 33,000 bottles. If so, discontinue use immediately and contact Johnson & Johnson for a refund.

While Johnson & Johnson hasn’t been able to confirm that the product purchased came with an intact seal, if it’s authentic, or if cross-contamination occurred prior to testing. The company said that the levels found were less than that 0.00002% and added that the "company is acting out of an abundance of caution."

In its announcement, the company said that Johnson & Johnson "has immediately initiated a rigorous, thorough investigation into this matter, and is working with the FDA to determine the integrity of the tested sample, and the validity of the test results.”

They added that Johnson & Johnson "has a rigorous testing standard in place to ensure its cosmetic talc is safe and years of testing, including the FDA's own testing on prior occasions--and as recently as last month--found no asbestos. Thousands of tests over the past 40 years repeatedly confirm that our consumer talc products do not contain asbestos."

The FDA has been researching the potential contamination of talc with asbestos, as it’s commonly used in products including baby powder and blush.

in 2018, a report by Reuters said that Johnson & Johnson had known for decades that its baby powder contained asbestos, but did not reveal that information to the public. Johnson & Johnson has also been faced with lawsuits alleging that asbestos in its talcum powder causes cancer, with some of those suits resulting in multimillion dollar verdicts against the company.

According to the FDA, "Both talc and asbestos are naturally occurring minerals that may be found in close proximity in the earth. Unlike talc, however, asbestos is a known carcinogen. There is the potential for contamination of talc with asbestos and therefore, it is important to select talc mining sites carefully and take steps to test the ore sufficiently.”

Johnson & Johnson can be reached via email or via phone at 1-866-565-2229 M-F 9-5:30 ET.

Read about how to use talcum powder safely.

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