Idaho Attorney General Raúl Labrador, along with 42 other attorneys general, has reached a $700 million nationwide settlement to address allegations related to the marketing of Johnson & Johnson’s baby powder and body powder products containing talc.
"We have reached a landmark settlement with Johnson & Johnson ensuring the company will take effective steps to protect consumers from potentially hazardous ingredients," said Attorney General Labrador. "Standing up for consumers in Idaho is a priority for my office and I’m proud of the attorneys in our Consumer Protection Division that worked hard to see this case successfully resolved."
The consent judgment filed in this lawsuit addresses allegations that Johnson & Johnson deceptively promoted and misled consumers in advertisements related to the safety of its talc powder products. As part of the lawsuit, Johnson & Johnson has agreed to stop the manufacture and sale of its products that contain talc in the United States.
Johnson & Johnson sold such products for over a hundred years. After the coalition of states began investigating, the company stopped distributing and selling these products in the United States and more recently ended global sales. While this lawsuit targeted the deceptive marketing of these products, numerous other lawsuits filed by private plaintiffs in class actions raised allegations that talc causes serious health issues including mesothelioma and ovarian cancer.
As part of the settlement, Idaho will receive $5,765,502 which will go into the Consumer Protection Fund. This settlement is pending judicial approval.
This is the seventh major settlement won by the Idaho Attorney General’s Office since 2023. Those settlements include direct-to-Idaho payments from a $74 million settlement with the tobacco industry, a $2 million settlement with Tempoe LLC, an advertising leasing company, a $1.6 million settlement with Publicis Health for opioid marketing, a $76 million settlement with Walgreen’s and others for opioid distribution, an $892,000 settlement with TurboTax (direct to Idaho consumers), and a $920,000 settlement with Indivior, the manufacturer of Suboxone.