An activist has moved to court seeking orders to ban the sale and manufacture of Johnson & Johnson talc-based baby powder in Kenya.
Fredrick Bikeri also wants the court to order the withdrawal of all batches of Johnson and Johnson baby powder from the Kenyan market.
The activist also wants the court to declare that failure to warn Kenyans on the threat posed by talc-based Johnson & Johnson baby powder to their lives is a gross violation to their right to information under Articles 35 and 46 of the Constitution of Kenya, 2010.
Through lawyer Elkana Mogaka, the petitioner argues that talc-based baby powder contains trace elements of asbestos, a known carcinogenic substance that will cause cancer in human beings.
“Failure to ban the talc-based Johnson and Johnson baby powder from sale and distribution in Kenya will have adverse effects on the health and lives of the people of Kenya, which is a serious breach of the right to life under Article 26 of the Constitution,” Mogaka submitted.
According to the petitioner, cancer has no known cure and is a serious threat to the lives of Kenyans especially when this product is used over a continuous prolonged period of time.
The court heard that according to findings by the World Health Organization (WHO), there are no trace levels of asbestos that are tolerable for human use, much less in baby powders.
The applicant told Justice Bahati Mwamuye that failure to require the American companies to validate the findings of the world Health Organization on the carcinogenicity of talc provided in the annexure FBO-001 by conducting further research is a gross violation to Kenyans right to information under Article 35 of the Constitution.
Bikeri wants the court to issue an order directing Kenya Bureau of Standard (KEBS), Public Health (Standards) Board and Healthy Cabinet Secretary to undertake a thorough research and testing of the Johnson & Johnson talc-based powders.
In addition, the petitioner wants the court to issue an order directing Johnson & Johnson Services Inc, Johnson & Johnson (PTY) Limited and Johnson & Johnson (K) Limited to reveal all the medical research and findings they possess on the carcinogenic properties of the talc-based powder they have available for sale in Kenya.
“Not withdrawing talc-based Johnson and Johnson baby powder from the Kenyan market is a serious abdication of the obligations placed on the State and the State agencies to undertake productive medical research,” Mogaka told the court.
.