Mumbai: The Bombay High Court has asked the Maharashtra government to re-test Johnson & Johnson's (J&J) baby powder and take immediate action against the company if the product fails the test. Two years ago, the company's baby powder samples failed to meet the proper standards. Now the High Court has given this order to the state government two years after this decision.  

A bench of Justices G S Patel and P D Naik was hearing Johnson's petition challenging the order of the Joint Commissioner of Maharashtra FDA that banned the production of the company's baby powder in Mulund. The court said it was not possible to assess the situation. We are saying this on the basis of the 2019 test and notice. We do not have exact news about the quality of the company's product (baby powder) at the moment. We don't know what is the brand position of the company with regard to this product.

The court said that if you want to test your samples, then do testing tomorrow. But if you feel that there is some problem, then you have to take action within a week. The matter is in public interest. We are not asking you to test the sample within a week but to take action based on the test results within a week. This matter has to be dealt with from the perspective of consumers and not the company. Earlier, the Bombay High Court had ordered the Maharashtra government and the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to submit a report from the Central Drug Laboratory, Kolkata, to Johnson & Johnson Pvt Ltd, on the basis of which the state government had cancelled the cosmetic manufacturing license of a unit of Johnson Baby Powder in Mumbai. The Maharashtra government had also asked the company to stop manufacturing and selling the powder at its unit with immediate effect.