NEW YORK (Reuters) -Johnson & Johnson has agreed to pay $700 million to settle an investigation by 42 U.S. states and Washington, D.C. into its marketing of baby powder and other products that contained talc.
The settlement resolves charges that Johnson & Johnson misled consumers into believing the talc products, which it sold for more than a century before discontinuing sales, were safe when it knew they were linked to cancer.
J&J stopped selling talc-based baby powder globally last year, switching to corn starch as the main ingredient. It has said its talc products are safe and do not contain cancer-causing asbestos.
The settlement does not resolve thousands of individual lawsuits over talc products, or a class action lawsuit accusing the New Brunswick, New Jersey-based company of fraudulently hiding the truth about its talc products from shareholders.
(Reporting by Jonathan Stempel in New York; editing by Jonathan Oatis and Bill Berkrot)
