Pharmaceutical company Johnson & Johnson took a mighty blow to their stock values today after a distressing report from Reuters went public.
According to the report, based on years of documents and testimony, multiple high ranking personnel in the company, as well as other notable figures outside the company, were privy to the fact that Johnson’s Baby Powder, a talcum powder product intended to aid in changing an infant’s diaper, contained trace amounts of asbestos. The reports date from 1971 to the early 2000s, and mention figures such as executives, managers, doctors, and lawyers. This concern has popped up several times over the years, but each time, it was presented as a new problem. If the report is to be believed, however, then the company was well aware of this potentially dangerous defect in their product for decades.
As a result of the report, Johnson & Johnson is on track for its absolute worst business day in over 10 years, with stock value dropping by 9.3 percent. At one point, the value went as low as 11.9 percent, though it has since recovered slightly.
Johnson & Johnson were outraged by Reuter’s report, dismissing it in an official statement as “an absurd conspiracy theory [spanning] over 40 years, orchestrated among generations of global regulators, the world’s foremost scientists and universities, leading independent labs, and J&J employees themselves.” It’s anyone’s guess where the truth lies, but the one undeniable fact is that investors aren’t happy.
