Johnson & Johnson Baby Powder Pulled From Stores: Walmart, CVS, Rite Aid Take Action

Following the voluntary recall by Johnson & Johnson (JNJ) for about 33,000 bottles of its 22-ounce baby powder for sub-trace levels of asbestos found by the U.S. Food & Drug Administration (FDA), retailers such a Walmart (WMT), CVS (CVS), and Rite Aid (RAD) have reportedly pulled all 22-ounce bottles of the product from their store shelves.

According to CNBC, Walmart removed and blocked the sale of the baby powder along with CVS, which pulled the product from its shelves. CVS is offering a full refund of the item at its stores.

“CVS Pharmacy is complying with Johnson & Johnson’s voluntary recall of Johnson’s Baby Powder 22 oz. and is removing this product from all stores and from CVS.com,” Mike DeAngelis, a CVS spokesman told the news outlet in a statement. “We also initiated a ‘Do Not Sell’ register prompt in our stores to prevent the sale of this item during the product removal process.”

Rite Aid also reportedly pulled the baby powder from its shelves, beginning on Oct. 18.

“Rite Aid informed all stores to pull all product from shelves and store it in a secure location,” the company told CNBC in an emailed statement. “Additionally, we’ve applied a point of sale system block for this product to prevent it from being sold.”

Johnson & Johnson voluntarily recalled the 33,000 of 22-ounce baby powder after the FDA found asbestos during testing. Johnson & Johnson disputed the presence of the asbestos, saying that it was conducting its own investigation into the integrity of the test sample as well as the test process by the FDA.

Johnson & Johnson has found itself embroiled in litigation over whether its baby powder allegedly contains asbestos, which has been linked to ovarian cancer.

Shares of Johnson & Johnson stock were up 1.20 percent at 1:56 p.m. ET on Friday while shares of Walmart stock were down 0.10 percent at the same time. Shares of Rite Aid stock were up 2.33 percent while shares of CVS stock were up 0.59 percent also at the same time.