Maharashtra FDA cancels Johnson & Johnson's baby powder manufacturing licence
Mumbai, Sep 17: Maharashtra's Food and Drugs Administration (FDA) on Friday cancelled the baby powder manufacturing licence of Johnson & Johnson Pvt Ltd "in the interest of public health at large".
In a release, the state government agency said the company's product, Johnson's Baby Powder, may affect the skin of newborn babies.
Samples of the powder for babies did not conform to standard pH value during a laboratory test, the regulator said.
The release said the action was taken after Kolkata-based Central Drugs Laboratory's conclusive report that concludes "the sample does not conform to IS 5339:2004 with respect to the test for pH".
According to the release, FDA had drawn samples of Johnson's Baby Powder from Pune and Nashik for quality check purposes.
The government analyst had declared the samples as "not of the standard quality" as they do not comply with IS 5339:2004 specification for skin powder for infants in the test pH, it said.
Thereafter, FDA issued a show-cause notice to Johnson and Johnson under the Drugs Cosmetics Act 1940 and Rules, besides issuing instructions to the company to recall the stock of the said product from market, said the release.
The firm "didn't accept the report" of the government analyst and challenged it in court for sending it to the Central Drugs Laboratory, it added.
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Odisha: Normalcy returns to violence-hit Malkangiri; internet services fully restored
Malkangiri (PTI): Normalcy returned to Odisha’s Malkangiri district on Monday, nearly a week after around 200 villages were damaged in violent clashes in a village, with the district administration fully restoring internet services, a senior official said.
Additional District Magistrate Bedabar Pradhan said internet services, suspended across the district on December 8 to curb the spread of rumours and misinformation following the clashes, were restored after the situation improved.
The suspension had been extended in phases till 12 noon on Monday.
The administration also withdrew prohibitory orders imposed under Section 163 of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita within a 10-km radius of MV-26 village, where arson incidents were reported on December 7 and December 8.
Though the violence was confined to two villages, tension had gripped the entire district, as the incident took the form of a clash between local tribals and Bengali settlers following the recovery of a headless body of a woman on December 4, officials said.
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The violence broke out after residents of Rakhelguda village allegedly set ablaze several houses belonging to Bengali residents, forcing hundreds to flee. The headless body of Lake Podiami (51), a woman from the Koya tribe, was recovered from the banks of the Poteru river on December 4, while her head was found six days later at a location about 15 km away.
Officials said the district administration held several rounds of discussions with representatives of the tribal and Bengali communities, following which both sides agreed to maintain peace.
Relief and rehabilitation work has since been launched at MV-26 village, with preliminary assessment pegging property damage at around Rs 3.8 crore.
A two-member ministerial team headed by Deputy Chief Minister K V Singh Deo visited the affected village, interacted with officials and locals, and submitted a report to the chief minister.
So far, 18 people have been arrested in connection with the violence, the officials said, adding that despite the withdrawal of prohibitory orders and restoration of internet services, security forces, including BSF and CRPF personnel, continue to be deployed to prevent any untoward incident.
On Sunday, Nabarangpur MP Balabhadra Majhi visited MV-26 and neighbouring Rakhelguda villages, and held discussions with members of both communities as part of efforts to rebuild confidence and restore peace.
More than two lakh Bengali-speaking Bangladeshis were rehabilitated by the Centre in Malkangiri and Nabarangpur districts in 1968, and they currently reside in 124 villages of Malkangiri.
