A bottle of Johnson and Johnson Baby Powder is seen in a photo illustration taken in New York, February 24, 2016. REUTERS/Mike Segar/Illustration/File Photo
(Reuters) – Walgreens Boots Alliance Inc and Target Corp on Friday became the latest retailers to remove all 22-ounce bottles of Johnson & Johnson baby powder from their stores, after the healthcare conglomerate recalled some bottles because of possible asbestos contamination.
“Following the national voluntary recall initiated by Johnson & Johnson, Target removed all Johnson & Johnson’s Baby Powder 22-ounce bottles from our stores and Target.com,” the company said.
Kroger Co said on Friday its stores do not carry the product size affected by the voluntary recall.
On Thursday, Walmart Inc, Rite-Aid Corp and CVS Health Corp said they were removing the product from their stores.
J&J, which is facing thousands of lawsuits over a variety of products, said last week it was recalling around 33,000 bottles of baby powder in the United States after U.S. health regulators found trace amounts of asbestos in samples taken from a bottle purchased online.
Asbestos is a known carcinogen that has been linked to deadly mesothelioma.
All product returned to J&J through the recall process – whether the product is from the impacted lot or not – is removed from the marketplace permanently, J&J said on Friday.
Reporting by Aishwarya Venugopal and Manojna Maddipatla in Bengaluru; Editing by Bernard Orr and Maju Samuel