Capitalist / oligarchy / BigCorp Malfeasance thread

[boutons_deux]

Let's kick off with a whopper, right up there with Exxon's scientists 40 years ago that Exxon was causing global warming, which would open the Arctic for drilling

Johnson & Johnson Knew About Asbestos in Its Baby Powder Products for Decades (https://gizmodo.com/report-johnson-johnson-knew-about-asbestos-in-its-ba-1831107782)

Johnson & Johnson—the makers of the most popular consumer talc product, Baby Powder—knew for decades that its products at times contained carcinogenic asbestos, but did everything possible to keep its findings shrouded from the public and even health officials.

Collectively, the documents seem to paint a damning picture of the company’s actions—and inaction—surrounding its products.

It didn’t tell the agency that at least three tests (https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/5017565-1972-through-1992-lab-reports.html) by three different labs from 1972 to 1975 had found asbestos in its talc – in one case at levels reported as “rather high (https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/5017565-1972-through-1992-lab-reports.html#document/p79/a463497).”

there have been more than 11,000 plaintiffs who have alleged that J&J’s products caused their cancers,

this July, a Missouri jury ordered (https://www.nytimes.com/2018/07/12/business/johnson-johnson-talcum-powder.html) the company to pay $4.69 billion in damages to 22 women and their families.

(captured regulatory) Health agencies have largely agreed (https://vitals.lifehacker.com/so-does-talcum-powder-cause-cancer-or-not-1819846047) with J&J in asserting that there is no clear link between consumer talcum powders and cancer,

but the World Health Organization has long ruled (https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/5316825-2018-World-Health-Organization-publication-on.html)that talc found with asbestos is a carcinogen.

company spokesperson for J&J told the news agency that its findings were false and misleading and that any positive tests were outliers.

https://gizmodo.com/report-johnson-johnson-knew-about-asbestos-in-its-ba-1831107782

[koriwhat]

Let's kick off with a whopper, right up there with Exxon's scientists 40 years ago that Exxon was causing global warming, which would open the Arctic for drilling

Johnson & Johnson Knew About Asbestos in Its Baby Powder Products for Decades (https://gizmodo.com/report-johnson-johnson-knew-about-asbestos-in-its-ba-1831107782)

Johnson & Johnson—the makers of the most popular consumer talc product, Baby Powder—knew for decades that its products at times contained carcinogenic asbestos, but did everything possible to keep its findings shrouded from the public and even health officials.

Collectively, the documents seem to paint a damning picture of the company’s actions—and inaction—surrounding its products.

It didn’t tell the agency that at least three tests (https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/5017565-1972-through-1992-lab-reports.html) by three different labs from 1972 to 1975 had found asbestos in its talc – in one case at levels reported as “rather high (https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/5017565-1972-through-1992-lab-reports.html#document/p79/a463497).”

there have been more than 11,000 plaintiffs who have alleged that J&J’s products caused their cancers,

this July, a Missouri jury ordered (https://www.nytimes.com/2018/07/12/business/johnson-johnson-talcum-powder.html) the company to pay $4.69 billion in damages to 22 women and their families.

(captured regulatory) Health agencies have largely agreed (https://vitals.lifehacker.com/so-does-talcum-powder-cause-cancer-or-not-1819846047) with J&J in asserting that there is no clear link between consumer talcum powders and cancer,

but the World Health Organization has long ruled (https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/5316825-2018-World-Health-Organization-publication-on.html)that talc found with asbestos is a carcinogen.

company spokesperson for J&J told the news agency that its findings were false and misleading and that any positive tests were outliers.

https://gizmodo.com/report-johnson-johnson-knew-about-asbestos-in-its-ba-1831107782

obama spied on US civilians... that doesn't concern you though huh? lmao

[CosmicCowboy]

Do you know why and how asbestos causes asbestosis? If you know that explain how finely ground powder is dangerous.

[Winehole23]

Pay up, J&J

CC: look up asbestosis. Even if the exact cause isn’t known, the correlation is strong enough for the Mayo Clinic to call lung cancer a complication.

1399839570397650951

[Winehole23]

Pay up, J&J

CC: look up asbestosis. Even if the exact cause isn’t known, the correlation is strong enough for the Mayo Clinic to call lung cancer a complication.

1399839570397650951J&J loaded it's talcum liabilities onto a shell company, which just declared bankruptcy.

1451204794543132685

Leaving aside past profits from talcum entirely, here's J&J's 2021 Q3 earnings report :https://www.jnj.com/latest-news/johnson-johnsons-2021-third-quarter-earnings-report-what-you-need-to-know (https://www.jnj.com/latest-news/johnson-johnsons-2021-third-quarter-earnings-report-what-you-need-to-know)

[Winehole23]

Such a precedent could allow companies to routinely pursue related-party bankruptcies to escape accountability from juries, said Melissa Jacoby, a University of North Carolina law professor.

“That's one step closer to making bankruptcy an alternative justice system for big corporations,” Jacoby said. “If a company as deeply pocketed as J&J can do this, where does it stop?”

In testimony last November, a lawyer for the Johnson & Johnson subsidiary has said the company pursued the strategy in reaction to an onslaught of litigation with the potential for outsized jury awards. A bankruptcy court, the lawyer argued, could provide a more consistent and equitable process for compensating claimants. Johnson & Johnson has said it would provide a fair amount of money to the subsidiary to pay claims.

Johnson & Johnson, valued at more than $450 billion, had about $31 billion in cash and marketable securities on hand at the end of the third quarter, securities filings show.

The New Jersey judge overseeing the subsidiary’s bankruptcy is scheduled on Feb. 14 to begin hearing arguments on plaintiff-creditors’ contention that the bankruptcy should be dismissed because it was filed in bad faith.
https://www.reuters.com/business/healthcare-pharmaceuticals/inside-jjs-secret-plan-cap-litigation-payouts-cancer-victims-2022-02-04/

[Winehole23]

Johnson & Johnson created a plan last year to limit the financial bleeding from billions of dollars in jury awards to plaintiffs who alleged the company’s Baby Powder and other talc products caused deadly cancers. The healthcare and consumer-goods giant assigned more than 30 staffers to “Project Plato.” In a memo on the project in July, a company lawyer warned the team: Tell no one, not even your spouse.

“It is critical that any activities related to Project Plato, including the mere fact the project exists, be kept in strict confidence,” Chris Andrew, a J&J lawyer, wrote in an internal memo reviewed by Reuters.

The covert team would go on to evaluate a strategy to shift all the liability from about 38,000 pending talc cases onto a newly created subsidiary, which would immediately declare bankruptcy. The goal, as a lawyer for the subsidiary said in a court filing: To halt all the litigation and transfer the cases to bankruptcy court, where plaintiffs would compete for compensation from a limited pool of money.

[SnakeBoy]

All your leftist buddies are in the other thread celebrating those capitalist profits trickling down to the plebs.

Economic nationalism, low taxes, and American capitalism have won. Ol Joe really is a great unifier. You should get onboard.

[Winehole23]

All your leftist buddies are in the other thread celebrating those capitalist profits trickling down to the plebs.

Economic nationalism, low taxes, and American capitalism have won. Ol Joe really is a great unifier. You should get onboard.lol won, history ain't over now any more than it was in 1989.

why are you trying to sweep J&Js shenanigans under the rug?

[ChumpDumper]

All your leftist buddies are in the other thread celebrating those capitalist profits trickling down to the plebs.

Economic nationalism, low taxes, and American capitalism have won. Ol Joe really is a great unifier. You should get onboard.

OK, Doocy.

[Winehole23]

For the asbestos test, Kligman recruited 10 prisoners in 1971 to get injections of tremolite (https://www.pennmedicine.org/cancer/types-of-cancer/mesothelioma/asbestos-cancer/types-of-asbestos) and chrysotile (https://www.who.int/ipcs/assessment/public_health/chrysotile_asbestos_summary.pdf) asbestos, along with a talc shot in their lower backs, according to the unsealed files.



David Egilman a Brown University (https://www.bloomberg.com/quote/317603Z:US) medical professor, testified as an expert for plaintiffs in several talc cases about Kligman’s December 1971 report to J&J. The chrysotile form of asbestos “had the biggest effect” on inmates’ skin, causing “granulomas (https://www.webmd.com/lung/lung-granulomas), which are cells clumped together causing a raised area,” Egilman said.
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2022-03-07/j-j-s-controversial-prison-testing-resurfaces-in-baby-powder-lawsuits

[Winehole23]

While they didn’t dispute the company hired Kligman in the 1960s to do baby powder tests, J&J officials said they regretted the firm’s involvement with the dermatologist. Still, they noted the tests didn’t violate research standards at the time.

[Winehole23]

J&J's fuckery didn't work, settlement swelled to $8.9b


Johnson & Johnson announced Tuesday that it would pay $8.9 billion to resolve all allegations that talc in its baby powder and other products caused cancer (https://www.foxnews.com/health/three-retailers-johnson-johnson-baby-powder-recall-asbestos).

That amount was more than quadruple what the company previously set aside to pay for its potential liability.
https://www.foxbusiness.com/retail/johnson-johnson-to-pay-resolve-claims-baby-powder-talc-products-caused-cancer

[Winehole23]

J&J's fuckery didn't work, settlement swelled to $8.9b

https://www.foxbusiness.com/retail/johnson-johnson-to-pay-resolve-claims-baby-powder-talc-products-caused-cancerThe settlement is in peril now that a judge has kicked away J&J's bankruptcy stool.


A U.S. judge on Friday shot down Johnson & Johnson's second attempt to resolve tens of thousands of lawsuits over its talc products in bankruptcy, imperiling a proposed $8.9 billion settlement that would stop new lawsuits from being filed.

U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Michael Kaplan in Trenton, New Jersey, ruled that a J&J company's second bankruptcy, like its first, must be dismissed because the talc lawsuits did not put it in immediate "financial distress."

"In sum, this Court smells smoke, but does not see the fire," Kaplan wrote, referring to the J&J unit LTL. "Therefore, the emphasis on certainty and immediacy of financial distress closes the door of chapter 11 to LTL at this juncture."



Andy Birchfield, an attorney who represents cancer victims, said the second bankruptcy was meant to keep the talc lawsuits from being heard by juries.

"J&J has spent two years trying to convince us that somehow a company worth a half-trillion dollars is bankrupt," Birchfield said. "It's time for the nonsense to stop and for J&J to accept responsibility."
https://finance.yahoo.com/news/j-j-effort-resolve-talc-204114238.html