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No More Tears: The Dark Secrets of Johnson & Johnson

Oliver and I are starting this book soon. I need to clear at least 1 from my nightstand, so I won't be getting to it for a few more days. I am sure Oliver will check in with her start date. Everyone is welcome!

This is going to be a must-read for me. I wasn’t planning to get to it this quickly though. If I don’t, I’d love to hear highlights as you go.

I'm just finishing a book discussion over on Library Thing so I'm planning to start Friday. I'm going to read just a few chapters every day so I can stretch it out.

Sounds good-I will only be reading a few chapters a night myself. We should be in sync

I just bought it, so I’m in.

Not something that I will join in on, at least not right now. However, I have my own interest in Johnson & Johnson - a legal one - from the time when there was an inheritance fight and the heirs attempted to overturn a late will made by the patriarch which basically left everything to his latest wife - referred to as the Polish Maid - she was much younger but still in her 40s at least at the time. Will was upheld but ultimately she settled some money on the children who challenged the will - even though they weren't cut out entirely to begin with. I wasn't actually working on the case but one of my closest friends was a paralegal at the time at the large Wall Street firm that represented the estate and the widow, and as she was polish, and spoke polish, she worked on the case and necessary translations through trial. She's mentioned as 'the Polish paralegal' in at least one of the books written about the case - this is pre-2000 - probably early 90s when it all ended. The way the family treated the widow .... and shenanigans I'd hear about - fit what is likely told of business practices here.

When my kids were young, I set up small investment accounts for them to participate in the stock market (for college or a house downpayment) . They had to pick the stocks. My youngest picked Nintendo and Johnson & Johnson. The last time I asked, he still had the J&J. (The “buy and forget about it” investment strategy.)

I wonder how guilty I’m going to feel about my ignorance of J&J for all these years.

I plan to read it but I'm on a waiting list, so I'll be watching this discussion and joining in (much) later.

I had a chance to read the first couple of chapters while waiting for an eye doctor appointment. I was immediately hooked. Page 15 - "The Sacklers are pikers compared to Johnson & Johnson" says a former J&J executive. My daughter just finished it and says she'll never be able to look at the logo the same way she used to.

I started it last night-I agree with your daughter!

I have gotten through Part 1. I was also immediately hooked. I love a good exposé, and this one is pretty eye-opening for me. I know more about Baby Powder than I ever thought I needed to, lol.

I have read more than I thought I would have at this point. I don't want to say much more until I know where you are at.

I just finished the Tylenol scandal. I remember it, but it's interesting to read what was going on. I had forgotten the outcome.

I had a small bottle of Johnson's baby powder in my medicine cabinet and had to throw it out. After reading the awful way they conducted themselves I just felt like I couldn't trust them anymore.

I'm going to start prescription drugs tonight. I want to make sure I'm not just plowing through it to finish it, without absorbing any of it.

I fell asleep and woke up to hear about the Tylenol investigation. We all thought the company was so proactive, but they could have easily helped solve the murders and prevent more tampering. They suspected the warehouse, but didn’t share it with law enforcement.

The one good thing that did come out of it was the addition of protective packaging seals.

We are at the same place, then.

I have no recollection of the Baby Powder scandal, not a product I ever used, even with my daughter. Tylenol is a different story. Not acceptable that so much of it was withheld from the public. The uselessness of the FDA justifies how I feel about that agency. The spinal stimulator I have implanted was available in Europe 5 years before I was able to get it. And the FDA started their process 3 years before Germany started theirs!

I just finished the section on Procrit. You can't read that without losing any respect you might still have for politicians (of any party) and the FDA. There were plenty of corrupt doctors, salespeople, and researchers. The big pharmaceutical companies spent millions covering up how dangerous Procrit was, considering it the cost of doing business. Once things were out in the open, Procrit was called the "Miracle-Gro for Cancer".

I'm starting the Risperdal section tomorrow. You can only absorb so much without becoming nauseous.

I did not get to Part 2 last night, but will start it tonight.

I missed out on this, but it's interesting. One of their big places is in a city nearby and my Aspie once did a temp job there, before we realized she can't cope with full time work in most environments (anywhere there are other people or where she has to work alone and structure her own time, so that covers virtually everything!)

I finished chapter 17 last night. I cannot believe what J&J got away with. How could the FDA ignore the fact that J&J was not filing anything on their test group, especially when another company ended their trial due to the high death rate!!

I just finished the section on Risperdal. I was very interested in this section because I had recently read an article about so many kids having been prescribed that drug for schizophrenia. It was also the most commonly prescribed drug for dementia patients despite evidence that it did nothing to improve those patients.

The prior chapters showed the greed and lack of ethics that were all over J&J but nothing can compare to this. They deliberately lied and covered up their findings, knowing that even if the FDA found out, they wouldn't really do anything. Who cares if you have to pay a few measly million in fines when your drug sales are in the billions.

I have been chairing a book sale, and now that is behind me I will have more time to read.

Why am I shocked about the Proctit incident? As a past accountant, I know how the bottom line is the all-important goal. but this is just beyond belief. That J&J got away with this so long, it falls on the FDA. As well as the Risperdal fiasco! I was a reading helper in my daughter's school, and I recall the number of parents this drug was recommended to. I was not on board with this at all, but not being anyone important enough to comment on it, I had to keep my thoughts between my co-worker and I.

I finished chapter 24 last night and hope to continue on tonight.

I'm going to start Chapter 30 this afternoon.

Yesterday, I had the TV in the background and heard 3 or 4 commercials advertising drugs that always included the phrase "FDA approved." That certainly doesn't give me a sense of comfort like it used to.

I finished amost all of Part III, Medical Devices. Another set of horror stories. I have a pet peeve about the word literal being used incorrectly but in this case, J&J were literal murderers.

I'm currently on vacation in the lovely city of Santa Fe, New Mexico so I've been sticking to more entertainment books. I'm going to try and start the Prolift Vaginal Mesh chapter tomorrow. I remember seeing the advertisements on TV about this. "If you or a loved one, etc etc."

I was tied up with doctor appointments last week and just got back to it last night. I just started chapter 30 before I fell asleep.

I admit I had to take the chapters on Risperdal in bits and pieces, due to a personal experience with it. My sister, for whom I am the legal guardian, is schizophrenic, diagnosed in her late 30s. (I believe she has been mentally ill all her life; my parents just shoved it under the rug because it was shameful). Anyway, she had many problems with it, and I saw them and tried many times to get her off of it. But, as told in the book, the State of Michigan was paying for it, and I was dismissed by both them and the clinic she went to. When she kept being noncompliant with taking the medication, about 20 years ago, I had to put her in a group home, and the caregiver and owner of the home, who was a nurse, helped me and they finally took her off it and started giving her an injection.

How nice to be on vacation! relax and have fun!

I finished last night. I have not written my review yet, I will do that today or tomorrow.

I just finished mine too. I probably won't write anythng until Sunday.