FILE – In this April 15, 2011 file photo, a bottle of Johnson’s baby powder is displayed in San Francisco. Johnson & Johnson is pulling its iconic, talc-based Johnson’s Baby Powder from shelves worldwide next year in favor of a product based on cornstarch. The health care giant’s announcement Friday, Aug. 12, 2022, comes two years after it ended talc-based powder sales in the U.S. and Canada, where demand has dwindled amid thousands of lawsuits claiming it had caused cancer (AP Photo/Jeff Chiu, File)

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Johnson & Johnson is pulling baby powder containing talc worldwide next year after it did the same in the U.S. and Canada amid thousands of lawsuits claiming it had caused cancer. The company says talc will be replaced by cornstarch. J&J faced thousands of lawsuits alleging its talcum powder caused users to develop ovarian cancer, through use for feminine hygiene, or mesothelioma, a cancer that strikes the lungs and other organs. J&J insists, and the overwhelming majority of medical research on talc indicates, that the talc baby powder is safe and doesn’t cause cancer. But the controversy began to drag on sales and it removed talc from the product in most of North America.