Congressman Steve Cohen (TN-09), Chairman of the Judiciary Subcommittee on the Constitution, Civil Rights, and Civil Liberties, today wrote to Attorney General Merrick Garland seeking an update on the status of a Justice Department investigation into baby powder contaminated with carcinogenic asbestos and marketed to women of color.
The letter reads in part:
“To date, thousands of women have died and many more continue to suffer with horrific health conditions directly caused by the asbestos, with the most frequent being ovarian cancer. I was particularly disturbed to recently learn that Johnson and Johnson was aware of the contamination of this iconic product and the potential health risks, then specifically targeted marketing toward women of color and ‘overweight’ women. If true, this type of activity is not just dangerous and callous, but morally reprehensible and possibly criminal. I respectfully request that you provide an update on the Department’s current work on this issue and urge you to use the full resources of the Department to complete the investigation as quickly as possible.
“It is my understanding that the Department of Justice has opened an investigation into this issue and a grand jury was convened in 2019. In my decades of public service, I have rarely encountered such nefarious and discriminatory corporate conduct…Thank you for your attention to this very pressing life and death matter.”
Original source can be found here.
