You probably grew up with that smell. The yellow baby shampoo that promised "no more tears" and the white plastic bottle of baby powder that sat on almost every changing table in America. For decades, Johnson & Johnson wasn't just a company; it was a symbol of safety. It was the "Family Company." But lately, if you glance at the news, that image has been getting dragged through the mud.
Between massive lawsuits and headlines about asbestos, people are starting to ask: what’s actually going on with the Johnson and Johnson controversies?
It’s complicated. Honestly, it’s a mix of genuine corporate oversight, decades-old scientific debates, and some of the most aggressive legal maneuvering we’ve seen in modern business history. To understand why J&J is currently splitting itself into two different companies and fighting thousands of legal battles at once, you have to look at the specific moments where the trust started to crack.
The Talcum Powder Crisis and the Asbestos Question
This is the big one. If you’ve seen a late-night TV commercial in the last five years, you’ve seen an ad for a class-action lawsuit regarding talc.
For years, women who used J&J Baby Powder for feminine hygiene were diagnosed with ovarian cancer. Later, others developed mesothelioma, a rare cancer specifically linked to asbestos exposure. The core of the argument isn't just that talc causes cancer—the science on that is actually still debated—but that J&J knew their talc supply sometimes contained trace amounts of asbestos and didn't tell the public.
A massive investigation by Reuters in 2018 changed everything. They dug through internal memos and laboratory reports showing that from at least 1971 to the early 2000s, the company’s raw talc and finished powders sometimes tested positive for small amounts of asbestos.
J&J has always denied this. They’ve spent millions on studies to prove their talc is safe. But the jury awards tell a different story. In one 2018 case in Missouri, a jury awarded $4.69 billion to 22 women. While that amount was later reduced, the message was clear: the public felt betrayed.
That "Texas Two-Step" Bankruptcy Move
How does a company worth hundreds of billions of dollars deal with 40,000+ lawsuits? They try to go bankrupt. Sorta.
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J&J used a controversial legal loophole known as the "Texas Two-Step." Basically, they created a new subsidiary called LTL Management, dumped all their talc-related liabilities into it, and then had that company file for Chapter 11 bankruptcy.
It was a bold move. It effectively froze all the pending lawsuits.
Critics, including many in Congress, called it a "shell game" designed to protect J&J’s massive profits while screwing over cancer victims. The courts have been back and forth on this for years. In 2023, a federal appeals court rejected the bankruptcy filing, saying LTL wasn't actually in "financial distress" because it had the backing of J&J’s massive treasury.
The company is still trying to settle these claims. They recently proposed a nearly $9 billion settlement over 25 years to resolve the talc litigation. Some plaintiffs want to take the money; others want their day in court. It’s a mess.
The Opioid Epidemic and the Role of Janssen
When people think of the opioid crisis, they usually think of Purdue Pharma and the Sacklers. But Johnson & Johnson’s subsidiary, Janssen Pharmaceuticals, played a huge role too.
They weren't just making the pills; they were growing the poppies.
At one point, J&J owned companies in Tasmania that supplied a huge chunk of the raw materials used to make narcotic painkillers globally. They also marketed their own opioids, like Duragesic and Nucynta. In 2019, an Oklahoma judge ordered J&J to pay $572 million (later reduced) for their role in "brainwashing" doctors into over-prescribing these drugs.
The state argued that J&J’s marketing downplayed the risks of addiction. J&J eventually agreed to a massive $26 billion multi-state settlement alongside other distributors to resolve thousands of these claims. They’ve since stopped selling opioids in the U.S., but the reputational damage is done.
Pelvic Mesh and Artificial Hips: When Implants Go Wrong
Beyond the powder and the pills, J&J has faced massive blowback over medical devices.
Transvaginal mesh was supposed to help women with pelvic floor issues. Instead, for thousands, it caused chronic pain, infections, and organ perforation. The stories are harrowing. Surgeons often found the mesh had "eroded" into surrounding tissue, making it nearly impossible to remove.
Then there were the DePuy ASR hip implants.
These "metal-on-metal" hips were marketed as more durable. In reality, they were shedding metallic debris into patients' bloodstreams, causing cobalt poisoning and tissue death. J&J had to recall 93,000 of them in 2010. By 2013, they had agreed to pay at least $2.5 billion to settle thousands of lawsuits.
The Risperdal Controversy
Risperdal is an antipsychotic medication. It’s a powerful drug.
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In the late 90s and early 2000s, J&J marketed it for off-label uses, including for elderly patients with dementia and children with ADHD. The problem? One of the side effects for boys was gynecomastia—the growth of female breast tissue.
Internal documents showed that J&J’s sales reps were allegedly told to target pediatricians, even though the FDA hadn't approved the drug for kids at the time. In 2013, the company paid $2.2 billion in criminal and civil fines to the Department of Justice. It remains one of the largest health-care fraud settlements in U.S. history.
Why Does This Keep Happening?
It’s easy to look at this list and think J&J is uniquely "evil." But the reality is more boring and perhaps more frightening.
J&J is a decentralized behemoth. They operate as hundreds of different companies under one umbrella. This structure allows for incredible innovation, but it also means that sometimes the left hand doesn't know what the right hand is doing—or worse, that "profit at all costs" becomes the culture in specific divisions.
They also have a legendary "Credo" written in 1943 that says their first responsibility is to the doctors, nurses, and patients who use their products. For a long time, they were the gold standard for corporate ethics, especially after the 1982 Tylenol poisonings where they famously put lives over profits by pulling everything off the shelves.
The Johnson and Johnson controversies we see today feel so jarring because they contrast so sharply with that 1982 legacy.
What You Should Do Now
If you're a consumer or an investor, you can't just ignore these headlines. The company is currently in the middle of a major brand split. They’ve spun off their consumer health business (the Band-Aids and the Tylenol) into a new company called Kenvue.
The "old" J&J is now focusing strictly on med-tech and pharmaceuticals.
Actionable Steps for Consumers:
- Check Your Medicine Cabinet: If you still have talc-based baby powder, many health experts suggest switching to cornstarch-based alternatives. J&J has officially transitioned to cornstarch for its global powder portfolio anyway.
- Verify Medical Implants: If you or a family member has a joint replacement or a surgical mesh implant from the last 15 years, find out the specific brand name. If it's a DePuy or Ethicon (J&J subsidiaries) product, keep a close eye on any new pain and consult your surgeon.
- Follow the Settlements: If you believe you were harmed by talc or pelvic mesh, the windows for settlements are often narrow. The $9 billion talc settlement is still moving through the courts.
- Read the Labels: Understand that "Johnson & Johnson" is often a parent company. Learning the names of their subsidiaries—like Janssen, DePuy, and Ethicon—helps you make more informed decisions about the medical products you use.
The story of J&J isn't over. They are still a powerhouse in the medical world, and they still produce life-saving cancer drugs and robotic surgery tools. But the era of blind trust is definitely in the rearview mirror. Keeping an eye on how they handle the remaining talc litigation will tell us everything we need to know about the company's future.