Asbestos Atlas — U.S. Shipyard Exposure Dataset, v1.5

Q: Is talcum powder still sold with asbestos in it?

The FDA's published surveys found 9 of 52 samples positive for asbestos in FY2019, including Johnson's Baby Powder Lot #22318RB, which was recalled; FY2021 through FY2023 surveys reported no positives. A 2024 recall covered 35 states. The FDA's proposed standardized asbestos-testing rule for talc cosmetics was proposed in December 2024 and withdrawn in November 2025, so no federal testing mandate is in force today.

Q: When did manufacturers first know talc could contain asbestos?

The earliest verified internal document is a 1958 Battelle Memorial Institute analysis of Italian talc for baby powder reporting fibrous tremolite. A 1969 internal memorandum recounted in Ingham v. Johnson & Johnson acknowledged tremolite asbestos in the product.

Q: Did Johnson & Johnson market baby powder to Black women?

Documented company materials include a 1992 Baby Powder Category Activity memo recording 52.0% African American and 37.6% Hispanic usage and citing ethnic opportunities to grow the franchise, and a later undated brand-planning deck naming Multicultural – AA & Hispanic as a target segment. The company has characterized such materials as ordinary multicultural marketing.

Q: Is talc itself classified as a carcinogen?

In July 2024, the International Agency for Research on Cancer classified talc as Group 2A, probably carcinogenic to humans, in IARC Monographs Volume 136 — an evaluation of talc as talc, distinct from the separate asbestos-contamination question.

Q: Where is talc baby powder banned or restricted?

Tanzania and Zimbabwe banned talc-based Johnson's Baby Powder in 2023. Canada restricts talc in genital-area and loose-powder products under the Cosmetic Ingredient Hotlist. Regulatory status varies by country.

Q: Where is talc baby powder still sold?

Johnson & Johnson discontinued talc-based baby powder in the U.S. and Canada in 2020 and globally in 2023, transitioning to cornstarch. Talc remains in cosmetic products internationally, and regulatory status varies by country.

Danziger, Paul; De Llano, Rod

doi:10.5281/zenodo.21627565

Deep Time

Powdered minerals were ground into cosmetics across the ancient Mediterranean. No ancient culture knew of mesothelioma or fiber pathogenicity; disease recognition is a twentieth-century instrument. The deep history explains why talc and asbestos appear in the same ground.

The Geology

Talc is a hydrous magnesium silicate formed in metamorphosed ultramafic rock, the same environments that host asbestiform amphiboles. Rohl 1974 (PMID 4470924) published the detection-method problem; Rohl, Langer and Selikoff 1976 (PMID 1011287) found 10 of 20 consumer talcum products contained detectable tremolite and anthophyllite. IARC Monographs Volume 136 (July 2024) classifies talc as Group 2A.

The Documented Record

1958 Battelle analysis of Italian talc reporting fibrous tremolite; 1969 internal memorandum acknowledging tremolite asbestos; 1972 FDA memorandum recording no disagreement about the potential safety hazard; 1971-76 trade-association push for a weaker method and the term nondetected (PMID 31095409); the 1977 Lancet commentary later retracted.

Who They Sold To

The 1992 Baby Powder Category Activity memo records 52.0% African American and 37.6% Hispanic usage and names ethnic opportunities to grow the franchise (UCSF IDL Exhibit 184, Bates JNJ 000021090-92). A later undated deck names Multicultural AA and Hispanic as a target segment (CHRG-116hhrg48687 pp. 306-319). Motive is labeled inference; the dates are the dates.

Still on Shelves

FDA surveys: 2009-2010 zero positives in 61 result rows; FY2019 nine of fifty-two samples positive including Johnson's Baby Powder Lot #22318RB (recalled); FY2021-2023 zero of fifty each year; no published 2024-2025 results. The MoCRA standardized testing rule was proposed December 2024 (FR 2024-30544) and withdrawn November 2025 (FR 2025-21407).

The Courts

Ingham v. Johnson & Johnson, 608 S.W.3d 663 (Mo. Ct. App. 2020), cert. denied 141 S. Ct. 2716: $550M compensatory plus $4.14B punitive, reduced award $2,115,909,091 by the opinion's own arithmetic. In re LTL Management, 64 F.4th 84 (3d Cir. 2023) dismissed the Texas Two-Step bankruptcy for lack of financial distress. Salcedo v. Cyprus Amax Minerals, 2026 IL App (1st) 242199, affirmed a talc-mesothelioma judgment. R.T. Vanderbilt Co. v. OSHRC, 728 F.2d 815 (6th Cir. 1984), is included for balance.

The Ledger, Method and Corrections

Claims are separated into Proven (dated primary record), Alleged (always attributed), and Disputed (open literature). The public corrections log records 1957-to-1958, $2.24B-to-$2,115,909,091, the 1992 Revitalization Plan conflation, and the 686-of-1,032 statistic. Downloads: CSV and JSON-LD ledger, CC BY 4.0.