Big Pharma giant Johnson & Johnson’s role in an evil pharmaceutical experiment that involved injecting black people with asbestos has been exposed, raising serious ethical questions about the company responsible for the popular Covid-19 vaccine.
The deranged Big Pharma experiment involved injecting a group of majority-black Pennsylvanians with highly-toxic asbestos to determine whether the substance was safe to use in talcum powder.
Documents confirming the company’s involvement were obtained by Bloomberg, tying the New Jersey-based Big Pharma and vaccine company to human experiments led by Dr Albert Kligman, a University of Pennsylvania dermatologist whose experiments on American citizens have widely condemned as brutal and unethical.
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Per DailyMail: Inmates at Holmesburg Prison in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, were offered $10 to $300 – equivalent to between $100 to $2,500 in today’s money when adjusted for inflation – to take part in the study – though they were likely unaware of the significant risk they were undertaking.
Participants were injected with asbestos and talc – a powder that forms the base of J&J’s iconic baby powder product. Asbestos is an extremely dangerous chemical that is tied to lung cancers, among other conditions.
Researchers hoped to determine whether asbestos could safety be used in talc-based powder without causing negative reactions from subjects.
Many participants were gravely harmed, though. One was Leodus Jones, whose daughter described his injuries has so jarring that he had turned into a ‘monster’. Jones died in 2018 aged 74, having suffered a lifetime of horrific pain as a result of the experiments.
Dow Chemical, a Michigan based chemical manufacturing company, and the U.S. government have been previously tied to these experiments as well.
This is another controversy for J&J regarding its baby powder products, as the firm is already facing thousands of lawsuits in recent years regarding use of talc and its potential for causing cancer.
The firm has already paid out billions in settlements due to its baby powder, which pushed it into filing for bankruptcy earlier this year.
Knowledge of these experiments has been in the public domain for years, as their existence was revealed in previous court cases related to Dow Chemical, Bloomberg reports, though J&J’s involvement has just come to light.
‘We deeply regret the conditions under which these studies were conducted, and in no way do they reflect the values or practices we employ today,’ a J&J spokesperson told Bloomberg.
‘As the world’s largest healthcare company, our transparent, diligent approach to bioethics is at the heart of all we promise our customers and society.’
Kligman recruited ten prisoners for the 1971 study where he injected asbestos mixed with talc into the lower backs of participants.
Those injected with chrysotile asbestos developed granulomas, sores on the body caused by inflammation that often signal a deeper medical issue, one expert witness testified.
Other studies deemed unethical included a 1968 study where talc stored in difference containers was exposed to the skin of 50 prisoners – 44 of which were black – to see if they type of storage caused any negative effects on the skin of a person.
These experiments allegedly left the prisoners malformed and severely injured.
‘I was four or five when I first saw my father’s back and it scared me so badly, I ran to my mother and told her that daddy had turned into a monster,’ Adrianne Jones-Alston, the daughter of Leodus Jones, one of the study participants, told a newspaper at the time.
The University of Pennsylvania has distanced itself from Kligman, and in 2021 issued and official apology for his actions.
‘Penn Medicine apologizes for the pain Dr Kligman’s work caused to incarcerated individuals, their families, and our broader community, Dr J Larry Jameson, executive vice president of the school, wrote in a letter.
‘While we cannot alter this history, the actions we are announcing today as an institution will change significant aspects of how we recognize Dr Kligman and his research, and will also devote substantial resources to research focused on skin of color and to education and patient care for underserved and vulnerable populations.’
The school also announced that an annual lecture and professorship named after Kligman would be renamed and established a scholarship fund for urban high school students interested in dermatology.
This is just another one of many issues J&J has faced regarding its iconic talc-based baby powder product in recent years.
J&J is facing thousands of lawsuits after allegations arose that some its products that use talc – a type of mineral – often are contaminated with asbestos, which can pose a danger to its users.
Billions of dollars have already been awarded in damages to many women who developed cancer after using the products, which are popular for female hygiene.
While it is safe on its own, it is often produced from mines that contain asbestos, and cross contamination is possible.
Asbestos is a dangerous mineral and humans that are exposed to it are at a severe risk.
Inhaling asbestos can cause a variety of issues for a person. Mesothelioma, a cancerous tumor that can form on the outside of a person’s lungs, heart and other organs, is most commonly associated with the mineral.
In October 2019, the FDA recalled the J&J powder after finding traces of asbestos in a bottle.
The FDA then performed a review of J&J talc products, and detected asbestos in nine of 43 samples tested.
Asbestos has been linked to ovarian cancer in some women whose genitals are exposed to the mineral. It has also been tied to lung and laryngeal cancer.
