asbestos

Johnson & Johnson announced last year that it would suspend all talc baby powder sales worldwide.

Health & Safety

Appeals court clears the way for more lawsuits over Johnson's Baby Powder

4:32pm January 30, 2023

A U.S. appeals court has dismissed the bankruptcy case filed by a Johnson & Johnson spinoff company. Around 40,000 cancer patients have filed suit, alleging the powder was contaminated with asbestos.

Andy Lang visits the gravesite of his sister Bertha Reed, Sunday November 20, 2022 in McIntosh, Alabama. Lang worked at the Olin Corp. chemical plant as a contract pipefitter, his sister retired after working as a lab analyst. Soon after she retired, Reed, who did not smoke cigarettes, was diagnosed with lung cancer. She died in 2017 at age 64.

Health & Safety

Factory workers across the U.S. say they were exposed to asbestos on the job

10:24am December 07, 2022

Their accounts contrast sharply with what chemical giants have said about worker safety at their facilities. At an Olin plant outside of McIntosh, Ala., workers recall decades of asbestos exposure.

They inhaled asbestos for decades on the job. Now, workers break their silence

10:10am October 20, 2022

While the U.S. considers finally banning the carcinogen, a group of men have come forward, saying they were exposed repeatedly while working at a chemical plant in New York.

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A photo taken in July shows what's left of the Jeffrey asbestos mine in Asbestos, Quebec. The town has voted to change its name to Val-des-Sources.

The Town Of Asbestos, Quebec, Chooses A New, Less Hazardous Name

4:55pm October 20, 2020

by Laurel Wamsley

The former mining town has watched its name transform from an asset in the late 1800s to a liability in recent decades. Residents voted to change the name to Val-des-Sources, or valley of the springs.

Frank Fahland, 61, is one of hundreds of Libby, Mont., residents who has an asbestos-related disease. That makes them potentially more vulnerable to complications from COVID-19.

COVID-19 Stalks A Montana Town Already Grappling With Asbestos Disease

2:50pm October 11, 2020

by Nate Hegyi

In Libby, Mont., an estimated 1 in 10 have an asbestos-related illness, after decades of pollution from a now-shuttered mine. With lungs already scarred, many fear contracting the coronavirus.

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In this file photo, Johnson's baby powder is squeezed from its container.

Johnson & Johnson Hit With $29 Million Verdict In Mesothelioma Case

1:23pm March 14, 2019

by Matthew S. Schwartz

The woman said she used J&J talc-based products in the 1960s and '70s and later developed mesothelioma. The pharmaceutical company says its product is safe and plans to appeal.

Amianthus, a variety of asbestos. Exposure to the fibers can cause mesothelioma, a cancer of the thin membranes that line the chest and abdomen.

Asbestos Deaths Remain A Public Health Concern, CDC Finds

5:40pm April 11, 2017

by Rebecca Hersher

Exposure to the tiny fibers in asbestos can lead people who work around the material to develop mesothelioma, a cancer of the thin membranes that line the chest and abdomen.

Health & Safety

America's 'Third Wave' Of Asbestos Disease Upends Lives

5:11pm December 17, 2015

Everything seemed to be going smoothly for Kris Penny, who pulled fiber-optic cables for a living. Then he got a cancer called mesothelioma that's almost always tied to asbestos exposure.