The Weekly, a new TV series from
The New York Times, latest episode centers around a woman diagnosed with mesothelioma who
chose to spend what turned out to be her last few months fighting Johnson
& Johnson. Patricia Schmitz vividly recalls the almost sacred ritual
of bathing and powering her younger siblings and later herself and her
children, after all, “how much damage could you do with powdering?”
Her lawyers convinced a jury that asbestos in talc mines led to contaminated
baby powder and she won. Johnson & Johnson plans to appeal the case
as they have for nearly all of the cases they’ve lost.
Like Patricia Schmitz, thousands of people who trusted Johnson’s
Baby Powder for generations are suing the company after developing cancers
associated with asbestos. NYT reporters investigate their allegations
and examine corporate documents which indicated that executives raised
concerns decades ago about asbestos contamination in talc used to make
Johnson’s Baby Powder. As a reminder, the government does not check
the safety of commercial talc products but instead relies on the industry
to self-regulate. J&J continues to insist that its baby power is safe
despite the evidence.
This latest investigative piece is yet another devastating example of the
human toll of corporate greed and deception. According to Patricia, “if
there isn’t a consequence, nothing will change.”
Check out the trailer and a summary of the investigative reporting
here and watch the full episode of The Weekly on FX or Hulu.
An FDA official in the 1970s reassured J&J that a draft report about
asbestos in the company’s baby powder would come out, “Over
my dead body.”