Johnson's Baby Powder: The Talc Is Gone. The Reason It's Gone Isn't a Footnote.
What's in the bottle now is fine. What used to be in it ended in 67,000 lawsuits.
The baby powder on the shelf today is cornstarch, and the ingredient list is short and unremarkable, five items, one of them the usual undisclosed 'Fragrance.' The story is what it replaced. For decades this was talc, the mineral the EU is now banning from cosmetics and that IARC calls probably carcinogenic, pulled from the US market in 2020 and worldwide in 2023 under tens of thousands of ovarian-cancer and mesothelioma claims. The switch to cornstarch is the right call. Read the talc page to understand why it took a courtroom to force it.
The label, flagged
Zea Mays (Corn) Starch
cornstarch base (replaced talc)
Tricalcium Phosphate
anti-caking agent
FragranceCAUTION
Not a hazard in itself, but a legal black box. “Fragrance” can shield ingredients (including EU-banned ones) that you are never told are there.
undisclosed blend
Aloe Barbadensis Leaf Extract
Tocopheryl Acetate
vitamin E
Source: INCIDecoder ingredient list. View label. Tap any flagged ingredient for the evidence.
What to use instead
The fix isn’t complicated: a fragrance-free or fully-disclosed alternative, with the ingredients flagged on this label designed out, closes these gaps at once. We pick the ones worth your money.
Shop talc-free, fragrance-free powder →Editorial analysis of the publicly listed label and regulatory/peer-reviewed sources. Not medical advice, not affiliated with the brand. Verdicts are evidence-graded, we flag what the data flags and clear what it clears.