J&J rejects report by Rajasthan govt on presence of formaldehyde in baby shampoo
New Delhi: Johnson & Johnson has strongly rejected findings of a Rajasthan government laboratory showing presence of "harmful" chemicals in the US-based company's baby shampoo, a popular product in India.
Based on the report of the Drug Testing Laboratory in Jaipur, the National Commission for Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR) has written to the chief secretaries of all states and Union Territories asking them to stop sale of Johnson & Johnson's (J&J) baby shampoo and remove it from the stocks.
The NCPCR said the test report found presence of formaldehyde in J&J's baby shampoo.
The company, in a statement, said it has not received any direction to stop the sale of its shampoo and that it was not accepting the interim results of the laboratory tests which were based on "unknown and unspecified" methods.
India is a major market for J&J globally, and its share in the country's Rs 4,000-crore baby care market is nearly three-fourths.
"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," the company said.
J&J said it is in full compliance with current Indian regulatory requirements and standards for manufacturing and testing of all its 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 conform to all applicable standard under the D&C (Drugs and Cosmetics) Act and D&C rules," it said.
"We unequivocally maintain that our products are safe, and our assurance process is amongst the most rigorous in the world, meeting or exceeding the safety standards in every country where our products are sold," the company added.
Officials said NCPCR has powers to recommend action, but it was for the state governments and union territories to take a call on implementation of the recommendation by the apex child rights body.
The NCPCR had sought sample test reports of J&J's baby shampoo and talcum powder from authorities of five states -- Andhra Pradesh (south), Jharkhand (east), Rajasthan (west), Madhya Pradesh (central) and Assam (North East) -- after reports of presence of asbestos and carcinogenic substance in them emerged.
The order by he NCPCR around a week back was issued after test reports of the baby shampoo came from Rajasthan. However, it is yet to receive the test reports from the other four states.
The NCPCR has asked the Drug Control Officer of Rajasthan to send the test report of the talcum powder at the earliest, officials at the child rights body said.
In December last year, India's drug regulator ordered laboratory testing of J&J's baby powder following international media reports it may contain cancer-causing asbestos. Months later, test reports showed that the talcum powder did not contain asbestos.
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Indian-origin translator Padma Viswanathan shortlisted for International Booker Prize 2026
New Delhi (PTI): Padma Viswanathan, a Canadian-American writer of Indian-origin, has made it to the 2026 International Booker Prize shortlist as the English translator of a Portuguese language novella.
"On Earth As It Is Beneath" by Brazilian author Ana Paula Maia, described by judges as a "brutal, haunting and hypnotic novella set in a remote Brazilian penal colony, where the boundaries between justice and cruelty collapse", is among the six worldwide contenders for the coveted literary honour.
The annual prize worth GBP 50,000, divided equally between the author and translator, was won last year by Kannada writer-activist Banu Mushtaq and translator Deepa Bhasthi for the short story collection "Heart Lamp". Each shortlisted title guarantees a prize of GBP 5,000 -- also split 50-50 between the book’s author and English translator.
"What struck us most is how spare, unflinching, uncompromising and relentless it is. Maia builds an entire moral universe out of very little: a remote prison, a handful of men, and the rituals of punishment that govern their lives.
"The novel reads almost like a dark fable about power, where brutality is ordinary and civilisation feels frighteningly thin," the judging panel, which also include award-winning Indian novelist and columnist Nilanjana S. Roy, said of the work translated by US-based Viswanathan.
The 58-year-old professor of creative writing at the University of Arkansas-Fayetteville is an accomplished playwright and author, whose novels have been published in eight countries.
The list, announced on Tuesday, is dominated by women, with five of the six authors and four of the six translators being female. The authors and translators represent eight countries -- Brazil, Bulgaria, Canada, France, Germany, Taiwan, the UK and the United States.
"With narratives that capture moments from across the past century, these books reverberate with history. While there’s heartbreak, brutality and isolation among these stories, their lasting effect is energising," said author Natasha Brown, chair of this year’s judging panel.
The other books include "The Nights Are Quiet in Tehran" by Shida Bazyar and translated from German by Ruth Martin; "She Who Remains" by Rene Karabash and translated from Bulgarian by Izidora Angel; "The Director" by Daniel Kehlmann and translated from German by Ross Benjamin; "Taiwan Travelogue" by Yáng Shuāng-zi and translated from Taiwanese by Lin King; and "The Witch" by Marie Ndiaye and translated from French by Jordan Stump.
The announcement of the winning book will take place on May 19 at a ceremony at Tate Modern in London.
The International Booker Prize is awarded annually for a single work of fiction -- either a novel or a collection of short stories -- written in another language, translated into English and published in the UK and/or Ireland.
According to the organisers, the 2025 winner "Heart Lamp" –- the first collection of short stories to win the prize and the first translated from Kannada –- rapidly sold out in the UK in the subsequent days, with the UK publisher, And Other Stories, immediately reprinting 40,000 copies.
