Clearing The Air

Does smoking ban promoter the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation profit from sales of products which cause cancer?

The parent company and founder of the Robert Wood Johnson Founadtion is accused by this American Cancer Society blog and the EPA of manufacturing and selling a child care product which is linked to causing cancer.

That parent company and founder is the Johnson & Johnson Company, who manufactures a household product, Johnson's Kids Shampoo Watermelon Explosion, which contains 1,4-dioxane. The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) calls this chemical, already known to cause cancer in animals, a probable human carcinogen.

From the Cancer Society weblog comes this statement:

Cancer is not the only risky link to children's bath products. It seems these items are also linked to early puberty development. And this is concerning because a fast-paced growth rate combined with children's porous skin increases susceptibility to toxins that can enter the bloodstream. One breast cancer expert says an increase in breast cancer risk is linked to toxic exposures during the formative years of life.

The irony of course is that the Robert Wood Johnson Founadtion (RWJF) funds nearly all smoking ban lobbying efforts to "protect" us from health hazards.......yet the fact of the matter is that RWJF profits from product sales which may directly contribute to an increase in cancer rates among children. RWJF also profits from sales of alternative nicotine products like Nicoderm, manufactured by the Johnson & Johnson Company (ALZA), demand for which increases after the passage of tobacco nicotine smoking bans.

RWJF is the single largest individual shareholder of Johnson & Johnson Company stock, an estimated $5.4 billion holding.

posted by marcus aurelius @ 3:52 PM