After the National Commission for Protection of Child Rights wrote to all states and union territories to stop sales of Johnson and Johnson products, the company issued a statement on Sunday saying that it is in full compliance with current Indian regulatory requirements and none of its products contain any harmful ingredient or the cancer-causing chemical formaldehyde. A report from the Rajasthan drug controller officer had found that the Johnson and Johnson baby shampoo was ‘not of standard quality as presence of formaldehyde was confirmed’.
In its statement on Sunday, the Johnson’s spokesperson said that the company did not accept the interim results of the government analyst that were based on unknown and unspecified methods.’
“We will await the results and conclusions of the re-testing process at the Central Drugs Laboratory. We are not aware of any directions from NCPCR. It must be noted that any such directions, under the law, can only be issued under certain prescribed conditions,” it further read.
The NCPCR had written to all secretaries of states and union territories to stop the sales of Johnson and Johnson baby shampoo in their respective states and also remove the stock from shops in view of the recent findings at the lab in Rajasthan. NCPCR in its notice had recommended to stop all sales of products until further notice. The child’s right body took the decision after Government Analyst Drug Testing Laboratory in Jaipur tested samples of Johnson and Johnson products and confirmed the presence of formaldehyde in its baby shampoo.
The recommendations came after Johnson and Johnson had failed to submit its report on the safety of its baby shampoo and powder in five states, namely Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Jharkhand, Assam and Andhra Pradesh.
After calling the methods employed by the government analyst ‘unknown and unspecified’, on the wake of the findings, Johnson and Johnson further assured that the all the company products are being sold and are safe to use.
“Johnson & Johnson is in full compliance with current Indian regulatory requirements and standards for manufacturing and testing of all our products. We have confirmed to the Indian authorities that we do not add Formaldehyde as an ingredient in our shampoo nor does Johnson’s baby shampoo contain any ingredient that can release formaldehyde over time. Our products are safe to use and products are sold,” the statement read.
Meanwhile, according to reports, the NCPCR has asked the Jaipur lab to send the test report of Johnson & Johnson’s baby talc at the earliest.