By Aditya Kalra
NEW DELHI (Reuters) - Indian drug inspectors have seized samples of Johnson & Johnson's baby powder from a plant in Himachal Pradesh, an industry source said on Wednesday, following a Reuters report the company knew for decades that cancer-causing asbestos lurked in the product.
The source, who declined to be named, said the samples were taken from the Baddi plant in Himachal Pradesh on Tuesday night.
J&J India did not have any immediate comment on the reports of sample seizures by Indian authorities. On Tuesday the company said in a statement that the Reuters article, which was published on Friday, "is one-sided, false and inflammatory".
"Johnson & Johnson's baby powder is safe and asbestos free," it added. "Studies of more than 100,000 men and women show that talc does not cause cancer or asbestos-related disease. Thousands of independent tests by regulators and the world's leading labs prove our baby powder has never contained asbestos," the company said.
Surendranath Sai, a drug officer in Telangana, said he was instructing drug inspectors to seize samples there.
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"On the basis of the news reports we are alerting to pick up samples. We will test them in a drug control lab here," said Sai. "We will take action accordingly. Certainly we are worried because millions of babies may be affected."
(Writing by Krishna N. Das; Editing by Sanjeev Miglani)
(Only the headline and picture of this report may have been reworked by the Business Standard staff; the rest of the content is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
