Nearly a year after several advocacy groups threatened a boycott against Johnson & Johnson over the use of potentially harmful chemicals in its Baby Shampoo and other products, the healthcare giant has agreed to remove carcinogens and other toxic chemicals from numerous adult toiletries and cosmetic products by the end of 2015. In all, J&J will reformulate hundreds of items that are sold in 57 countries. The move was announced by the Campaign for Safe Cosmetics, which is a coalition of more than 175 nonprofit organizations that raised awareness of the issue over the past two years and succeeded last fall in pressuring J&J to respond to its complaints (back story). The criticism also came at a time when J&J was already under sustained regulatory pressure for a long-running series of manufacturing gaffes that led to huge numbers of product recalls that undermined its venerable brand name and prompted shareholder unrest and calls for changes in management.
