All language subtitles for Not.So.Pretty.S01E01.1080p.WEBRip.x265-RARBG_English

Keke Palmer:
From performances on videos

to the big screen
to the red carpet,

makeup is a big part
of how we present ourselves.

Sometimes it's a first date.

Sometimes it's
a first impression,

but every time
we paint our face,

we express
part of our personality.

Woman: You feel pretty, and
everybody wants to feel pretty.

Different woman: Our desire
to be attractive and beautiful

has started
since the history of time.

Different woman: I just always
had used it for fun

until it all came tumbling down.

Woman: You would assume
that whatever you're buying,

because it's on the shelf,
it's safe.

I called all my buds and said,
"Hey, send me a sample,"

and in all of them,
I found asbestos.

Woman: It was hard to accept
or believe.

Different woman: It can be found
in eyeshadow, blush,

foundation, lipstick.

Palmer: Sometimes
all this makeup

may do things to us
that are not so pretty.

Woman: Oh, my.

Different woman:
Did I do my makeup here?

I guess you did
your own makeup there.

Red cheeks.

It looks like she
found Mom's makeup.

Honestly, besides
the lipstick,

it doesn't look like
I did that bad a job.

Ha ha ha! She even
has blush on her.

[Toy playing rock music]

Woman:
Turn around, Corrin.

Corrin, voice-over: I grew up
in Destrehan, Louisiana.

I loved to, like, play
and roughhouse,

you know, hang out
with the boys...

but I also always had
a really girly, creative side.

I've always played with makeup
for as long as I can remember.

Woman, voice-over:
Corrin understood shading

and colors and things like that,

and then by the sixth grade,
she was asking for things

that I don't even know
how to use.

Corrin, voice-over:
I did friends' makeup

in senior photos,
and by college,

I was able to get a job
as a freelance makeup artist

for Christian Dior.

I got to work with people,

and I got to make them
feel good with makeup.

Girl: Ha ha!

Woman, voice-over:
My daughter Mackenzie was 5,

and she used to get
into my makeup,

and I would find these
big chunks of powder missing.

It was her creative expression.

For kids, this is like art.
This is--

That messy painting that
they would do on the easel

is now just with powder
on their face.

Oh, that's
so beautiful.

Oh, it's--

Kristiana: So one weekend,
we got this little makeup kit

from Claire's.

At the time,
I worked at a law firm

on a case
that involved asbestos,

and Mackenzie walked by
and said,

"Well, could my makeup
have asbestos in it?"

and I was like,
"Oh, probably not," like,

but the more I thought about it,
I was like,

"Well, maybe we should
get it tested."

Corrin, voice-over:
After college,

I began building
a career in makeup...

and then one day,
I started to get,

like, really bad pains
in my abdomen.

It felt like somebody
was taking my intestines

and turning them
and strangling them.

She was just getting sicker and
sicker and sicker and sicker.

I said, "You need
to go to the hospital."

Corrin, voice-over:
I meet with a surgeon,

and he says,
"We have to operate."

[EKG beeping]

Back up, please.

Corrin, voice-over:
I wake up from surgery,

and I asked the doctor
what it was,

and he told me he doesn't know.

He has to wait for pathology.

Pathology comes back.

It's mesothelioma.

It was like, "What?

How in the hell did I get
mesothelioma?"

Julie: It was horrifying.

Somebody 26 years old,
you know, wow, that--

it made no sense.

[Thrumming]

Man: Mesothelioma is a cancer
that is incurable

of the lining around your lung
and the abdomen.

It's an excruciating way to die,

and it's almost always caused
by exposure to asbestos.

Palmer: Asbestos is
a naturally occurring mineral

that has been mined
since the 1870s.

It has been primarily used
to strengthen and fireproof

bricks, pipes, and insulation.

Iola: You get cancer
from asbestos

by inhaling asbestos fibers
into your body

through your nose
and your mouth.

Corrin: It was hard
to accept or believe

because I didn't go work
in a plant

that exposed me to asbestos.

I didn't go huff
a bag of asbestos.

Mackenzie: [Blowing]

Kristiana:
My daughter had a habit

of blowing into the palette,

and it would just make this
huge cloud of colorful dust,

so I reached out
to a lab that I knew.

So she called me up and said,

"Hey, I've got
this box of makeup.

It's from Claire's,"

and I'm like, "Claire's?
What's that?"--ha ha!--

and she said, "Well,
it's where, you know,

all the girls
get their ears pierced."

I'm like, "OK. Send it to me,
and I'll do it gratis."

Palmer: Sean Fitzgerald
is a geologist

who runs a laboratory that
tests products for asbestos.

Fitzgerald, voice-over:
I told Kristi,

"I finally got around
to testing this.

You'd better sit down."

"I found asbestos in the sparkly
Claire's box that you sent me."

Kristiana:
I just remember sinking.

Like, it felt like slow motion.

Being in the field that I'm in,
I've met people

who have ultimately passed away
from asbestos exposure,

and my daughter
has met these people.

As parents, you would assume
that whatever you're buying

for your children,
"It's on store shelves.

Why would it make it
that far and not be safe?"

Palmer: So how did asbestos
get into a child's makeup?

Well, the key to understanding
how that happened

is to look at another
personal care product,

one that has been marketed
for decades

as the essence
of mother-child love.

Woman: ♪ You understand
the language of love ♪

Julie: OK.
Got your little stockings on.

Corrin, voice-over: My mom used
baby powder since I was born.

Julie, voice-over: Corrin always
had pretty sensitive skin,

so she would get
diaper rash pretty easily,

so when we powdered her,
we powdered her good.

[Coos]
Yes.

Palmer: The most widely used
baby powder

is sold by Johnson & Johnson.

The company even
encouraged doctors

to recommend it
to young mothers.

[Dog barks]

Go get 'em.

Man, voice-over: I was
an obstetrician and gynecologist

for 50 years.

[Dog barks]

When I went into practice,
I would recommend

Johnson & Johnson's baby powder
for pregnant moms,

and I'd say,
"Yep. Use it on baby."

Palmer: And Dr. Tom McHattie was
a lifelong user of the product.

McHattie, voice-over:
Growing up as a kid,

there was never
anything else in the house.

I used it in my skates.

I used it in my tennis shoes,
used it playing football.

My 4 kids got covered
in Johnson & Johnson.

I mean, every time they
had a bath, they got powdered.

It was kind of being, like,
a little snowstorm

running down the hallway with
baby powder coming off them.

Iola: Consumers might have
an idea of baby powder

as this, like, white, pure
sort of substance that's clean,

and that's the way
it's been marketed over time...

Ever since I was a little girl,
Johnson's baby powder

has made me feel
soft, fresh, and loved.

Iola: but baby powder
is made with talc,

and the reality is that talc and
asbestos usually grow together,

and so when you get one,
you typically get the other,

and any product
that contains talc

is often also contaminated
with a low levels of asbestos.

Woman: Geologist often say
that you can't separate it.

It's commingled.

Palmer: Tiffany Hsu
is a "New York Times" reporter

who has investigated
talc-based products

for more than 5 years.

Hsu, voice-over:
Even tiny fragments of asbestos

found in talc can be damaging.

Palmer: This image shows
an asbestos fiber

found in the sample
of Claire's makeup.

This tiny fiber is 1,000 times
smaller than a human hair,

and this Claire's sample

contained millions
of these asbestos fibers.

[Beep beep]

Fitzgerald: The little,
tiny fibers of asbestos

is what we're worried about

because they're so small
that you breathe them in

and it goes all the way to
the deepest part of your lung.

That's what gives people
the cancers that kills them.

Hsu: Talc is found
in any number of cosmetics--

eyeshadow, blush,
foundation, lipstick.

Iola: If you're applying
makeup to your face

a couple times a day,

a couple times a week
for decades,

you're getting repeated exposure
that is right around the place

that asbestos needs to be
to cause disease in your body.

Corrin, voice-over:
Since I was a kid,

I was putting makeup
on my face every day,

sometimes several times a day...

so when I got sick,

I decided to go and find out,
was there really talc

in a lot of
my favorite products?

This has talc.

Talc. Talc.

Palmer: After Corrin
was diagnosed with mesothelioma,

she decided to have
the makeup products she owned

that contained talc tested.

10 of her 25 makeup products
contained asbestos.

Corrin: I was meant to believe
that products were safe and good

and would bring me joy,

especially
Johnson & Johnson baby powder.

Hsu: Johnson & Johnson
is a company that is built

on what's known
as a reservoir of trust--

"We are the company that will
do whatever it takes

to make sure that you,
the customer, are safe"--

but all the way back
in the 1970s,

there were several instances
that suggested

that there was asbestos in talc

and specifically
Johnson & Johnson talc.

Palmer: The media began
reporting on the association

between asbestos
and lung disease.

Asbestos, a mineral fiber once
commonly used as insulation,

has been identified
as a cause of lung cancer.

Hsu: People were worried,
but Johnson & Johnson said,

"No, no. This is not a problem.

All of our research says
that our talc is safe."

Palmer: In a 1976 letter,

Johnson & Johnson assured the
Food and Drug Administration,

aka the FDA,

that they "verify the absence
of asbestos" in their talc.

They said they had tested
more than "100 lots,"

and no asbestos was
"detected in any sample."

Man, voice-over:
But the truth is always

in the company documents,

documents that they'll stamp,
"Confidential."

Palmer: Moshe Maimon
is an attorney

specializing in asbestos cases.

Maimon, voice-over: We were able
to force Johnson & Johnson

to turn over the documents,

documents that nobody
really has ever seen,

documents that they
never shared with the FDA.

Palmer: Those confidential
documents show J&J

actually stating that asbestos
does exist in their talc,

sometimes
at "rather high" levels,

and that it was "normal to find"
asbestos "in many...talcs."

They found that they
couldn't remove the asbestos

from the talc,

and so if you can't remove
the asbestos from the talc,

remove the talc
from the baby powder.

Palmer: And Johnson & Johnson
could easily have done just that

because they had found
an alternative to talc in 1973

which they advertised
as being soothing.

Male announcer: "I have
a magic powder," he said.

"It's Johnson's
baby corn starch."

It's so absorbent,
it helps soothe

and prevent chafing
and irritation.

Iola: They had corn starch
as a contingency

ready to go
from the early 1970s,

so Johnson & Johnson never had
to sell talc-based baby powder.

Hsu: But baby powder
was iconic to the company,

marketed
by Johnson & Johnson for years

as being the epitome of safety.

If talc baby powder
was deemed to be unsafe,

it's a signal to consumers
that anything else

at Johnson & Johnson
might also be unsafe,

and so the company
continued to sell this product

for more than 50 years.

McHattie, voice-over: I had
started to not feel very well

just before Christmas of 2019.

I was getting tired easily,

and then I thought, "Boy,
I've lost a lot of weight,"

so I went in to see a physician,
and he did a CT scan.

He looked at it and said,
"Holy mackerel,

there's a great,
big tumor sitting there."

It was mesothelioma,

and as soon as the oncologist
told me what it was,

all the links went,
"Clink, clink, clink"--

asbestos, talcum powder,

Johnson & Johnson.

Palmer: While J&J baby powder
is the most well-known brand

with claims of
asbestos-contaminated talc,

the cases involving Kristi
and Corrin clearly point

to a concern
with many other talc products.

Kristiana:
When we got the results,

we decided we're gonna
make sure this wasn't a fluke,

it's not a one-off.

I called all my buds and said,

"Hey, go to the nearest
Claire's.

Send me a sample."

This was sent to me
by my friend in L.A.

Fitzgerald, voice-over:
I got samples from Seattle,

San Francisco, Atlanta,
New York.

I tested all of these products
for the presence of asbestos.

Kristiana, voice-over:
There were 17 products, I think,

from 9 different states,
and they all ended up positive.

We got those results
in December, and I thought,

"Oh, my gosh,
Christmas is around the corner."

Fitzgerald: She's like,
"We've got to tell everybody

before little girls
end up with asbestos

in their Christmas stockings."

Kristiana, voice-over: So we
went straight to Claire's first,

and we were not met
with a very good response.

Fitzgerald:
They've said, "It's false.

"There's no way that
our products contain asbestos.

The talc we used was certified
as asbestos-free."

Palmer: How could a product
that is certified asbestos-free

still have asbestos in it?

To find the answer to that,

we need to go back
to the 1970s again,

when the FDA was pressuring
cosmetic companies

to remove asbestos
from their talc products.

The industry then
organized their forces

to figure out how to respond,

and one of the ringleaders
was Johnson & Johnson.

They went to the FDA
and they said,

"We will develop a method,
and we will self-regulate.

You don't have anything
to worry about."

Palmer: The method
the industry came up with

allowed them to test
for asbestos

in as little as one teaspoon
out of every 20 tons they used.

Fitzgerald: And if you don't
find asbestos in that teaspoon,

now you're allowed
to say legally

that the whole lot
is asbestos-free,

Palmer: But the tiny sample size

was just the beginning.

The industry also found a way
that would make it harder

to find asbestos,
even in that one teaspoon.

Remember those tiny asbestos
fibers found in Claire's makeup?

To find fibers that small,
Sean used an electron microscope

with up to one million times
magnification.

Instead, the industry
primarily used microscopes

that can
only magnify

up to 500 times.

What the industry figured out
is that if they chose tools

that could not see asbestos,

they could report the products
as asbestos-free,

even though the reality is,

the tools were not
sensitive enough to see it.

Palmer:
And they made sure of it.

In a 1973
Johnson & Johnson memo,

a scientist actually
suggested rejecting

a more precise testing method

because
"it may be too sensitive."

The reality is that
the cosmetics industry,

including some
of the biggest companies--

Johnson & Johnson,
Colgate, Avon--

they spent an enormous amount
of time and effort 50 years ago

to ensure that consumers
would never find out

that there was asbestos
in the products.

Maimon: What we found
is that they have been hiring

some of the best PR firms in
the country to work with them,

companies who helped deal with
the Deepwater Horizon oil spill

and companies that work
for Philip Morris

and the tobacco industry.

Palmer: And these companies are
advising the cosmetic industry

to publicly deny that
their products cause harm,

just like the 7
tobacco executives

who went before
television cameras

in a 1994 congressional hearing

and denied that nicotine
was addictive.

I believe nicotine
is not addictive. Yes.

I believe that nicotine
is not addictive.

And I too believe

that nicotine
is not addictive.

Palmer: Recently,
the Johnson & Johnson CEO

followed
the tobacco companies' playbook

when he went
on national television

to insist that
their baby powder was safe...

I would start
by saying that

we unequivocally
believe

that our talc,
our baby powder

does not
contain asbestos.

Palmer: and he went on to praise

the quality
of Johnson & Johnson's testing.

We also not only used

the best testing methodologies
that were available,

but we continued to improve
them through the years.

He's sitting there saying
that their baby powder

doesn't contain
asbestos.

I'm sitting with a damn
report that says it does.

The bottle I had
has asbestos in it.

We bought this bottle in 2017,
and after my diagnosis,

I sent that bottle
to my attorney,

who sent it to the lab.

The lab tested it.
We have the reports.

He has to know
their product contains asbestos,

and I think he should
have to resign.

[Birds chirping]

Palmer: Tom has a right
to be angry.

While J&J knew for decades
that their talc

sometimes contained asbestos,

other documents show
something even worse.

Johnson & Johnson
actually funded an experiment

to test the toxicity
of asbestos in humans.

Patty Satalia: Hundreds of
Philadelphia prisoners were used

as human guinea pigs
in an array of unethical

and oftentimes dangerous
medical experiments.

The experiments
left many test subjects,

most of whom
were African Americans,

in excruciating pain.

Palmer: In a 1971 memo,
a Johnson & Johnson executive

confirms the company tested
the toxicity of chrysotile

and tremolite, two particularly
dangerous forms of asbestos.

The materials were "injected"
"in the lower back"

of "adult males."

You have to ask yourself,

"Why would Johnson & Johnson
have funded these tests

unless they knew asbestos
was in their product?"

In 2000, some of these men
sued Johnson & Johnson,

but their case was dismissed
because the court ruled

the two-year statute
of limitations had expired.

Johnson & Johnson continued
to sell their talc products

to millions
of unsuspecting customers.

Corrin, voice-over:
I now wear makeup

but only talc-free products.

Julie, voice-over: The fact
that I encouraged her interest

makes me feel some guilt
that I allowed her

to pursue her makeup.

Corrin, voice-over:
It's been rough.

My mom and my boyfriend,
they watched me deteriorate,

and they watched me struggle.

Palmer: Corrin's surgery
removed the mesothelioma,

but she's not in the clear yet.

Julie, voice-over:
Even though she's won the battle

at this point,
this is looming over her head.

It's 40% to 50% chance
it's gonna come back.

Corrin, voice-over:
And it's not gonna stop

unless talc products
are no longer being used,

so that's why I decided
to take legal action.

Palmer: Corrin and her lawyers
filed a lawsuit

against the brands of makeup
and powders containing talc

that Corrin had used
in her past,

brands such as Avon, Dior,

Clinique, Estee Lauder,

L'Oreal, and Johnson & Johnson.

I'm a fighter,

so I will fight
for what's right.

[Birds chirping]

Palmer: Kristi
and her daughter Mackenzie

have also continued working
to protect children

from toxic products.

Kristiana, voice-over:
When I realized Claire's

wasn't going to do a recall
or make their customers aware,

we just sent out a press release
saying, "Here's the results."

Palmer: The local news
ran a story about Kristi

discovering asbestos
in her daughter's makeup.

Emily Volz: It was
just a few weeks ago

when Kristi Warner received
a heartbreaking phone call.

Mackenzie was very afraid,

so from the get-go, I told her,
"You're gonna change the world.

This will make a difference,"
and we really used that

to try to take a negative

and hopefully turn it
into a positive.

Palmer: The company received
a lot of negative publicity.

Claire's issued a recall,
which became national news.

Claire's says
there's no evidence

its products are unsafe,
but did say it was pulling

those items off the shelf
in an abundance of caution.

Kristiana, voice-over:
The word continued to spread

that there was a problem
with the children's makeup.

I had no idea that it was
gonna be something

that would reach
the international level.

I'm grateful it did
because clearly,

this was a problem
not only in America,

but overseas, as well.

Palmer: Asbestos
and other dangerous toxins

can be found in makeup products
because the beauty industry

lacks proper oversight.

Woman: There is really
no government authority

that is checking to see whether
the products are actually safe.

Woman: The governmental agencies
are supposed to protect us,

but the FDA
has little to no power.

Palmer: The FDA admitted this

in a televised
congressional hearing.

Nanette Barragan:
Does the FDA have the authority

to force manufacturers to remove
their products off the shelves

if they are contaminated
with asbestos?

Susan Mayne:
No. We can't force.

We can ask for
a voluntary recall.

Hsu: Its hands are tied.

As someone once told me,
when it comes to enforcing

requirements
for the cosmetics industry,

the FDA can only
gum people to death

because they have no teeth.

Iola, voice-over:
The only effective way

to get these companies
to stop using

toxic substances
in their cosmetics

is public pressure and people
like Corrin and many others

that are willing to stand up
and to fight

for what has happened to them

but also for everyone else
that comes behind them.

[Siren]

Ana C. Viscomi:
Members of the jury,

we are in the plaintiffs' case
in this phase of the trial,

and the plaintiffs may call
their next witness.

Chris Panatier:
Thank you, Your Honor.

At this time,
plaintiffs call the CEO

of Johnson & Johnson
Alex Gorsky.

Woman: State your name
for the court.

Spell your last name,
please.

Alex Gorsky,
G-O-R...

Palmer: For the next 4 hours,
Mr. Gorsky was shown

document after document
that indicated

asbestos
had been repeatedly found

in Johnson & Johnson's
talc products,

but he claimed never to have
reviewed those documents.

Then he was shown
an internal company document

which listed "major obstacles"
and "major opportunities."

One major obstacle
was the "negative publicity"

surrounding talc's linkage
with cancer,

which was causing
declining sales,

and a major opportunity was that
they could "increase volume...

by targeting" African Americans
and Hispanics.

Mr. Gorsky responded
by saying...

I have no idea where
this document comes from.

Flint: They found
marketing companies

that are in our neighborhood
who know our community well,

and they marketed to Black
and brown communities.

Palmer: Photos from
a Johnson & Johnson PowerPoint

show coupons being handed out

for free samples
of Johnson's baby powder.

Chaudry: They've preyed
on Black and brown communities

and overweight women.

Iola: There are documents
showing that they targeted

African American women
that were overweight

that lived in the South.

Hsu: According to lawsuits,
Johnson & Johnson was aware

that women in this demographic
wouldn't know

that they were sick
until far, far too late,

and when they did realize
they were sick,

they wouldn't have access
to the kind of health care

that white women would,
and these lawsuits claimed

that the company
willfully took the step

to market to them, anyway.

Palmer: Consumers
who have been harmed

by Johnson & Johnson products
have already been awarded

more than 3.5 billion
in damages,

but the $453 billion company

has come up with
a very tricky scheme

to avoid paying
the money they owe

to people who have won
legal cases against them.

As outlined
in company documents,

they created
a subsidiary company in Texas

called LTL Management

that assumed all liabilities
of their cosmetic talc products,

and then Johnson & Johnson
had its new company

immediately file for bankruptcy.

Hsu: This is known
as the Texas two-step,

and as a result of that,

Johnson & Johnson,
the overall company,

is no longer liable
for these lawsuit claims.

The subsidiary, which
is now bankrupt, is liable.

Palmer:
This Texas two-step scheme

could allow Johnson & Johnson
to avoid paying billions

in damages owed to people
whom the courts determined

to have been harmed and killed
by the company's talc products.

Hsu: But Johnson & Johnson still
had a public-relations problem.

It's all about PR
to these companies.

They had to figure out a way
to protect their brand.

Palmer: In 2020,
Johnson & Johnson pulled

its talc-based baby powder
off the market in the U.S.,

but they continue to sell
their talc-based baby powder

in most of the rest
of the world,

advertising it
to unsuspecting mothers.

Female announcer:
Johnson's baby powder...

[Speaking Japanese]

Female announcer:
[Speaks Filipino]

Flint: They are still making
the product in South Africa,

in Colombia, and in India,

so they're really targeting
women of color

with a product
that could be a carcinogenic.

Palmer: And in the U.S.,
many other cosmetic companies

still use talc
in their products.

Woman: Just from
a company standpoint,

it's all about your revenue.

It's not about health.

Woman, voice-over: And if
nobody is requiring companies

to care about safety,
you don't get safety.

There is no one to protect us.

If you're a consumer of
cosmetics in the United States,

there is no one
looking out for you.

Palmer: So that means
it's up to us,

and there are things we can do
to protect ourselves and others.

Here are the dos and don'ts
for cosmetic products.

Be wary of talc-based products.

Remember, asbestos-free talc
may actually contain asbestos.

You can still use
powdered makeup products

and body powders, but opt for
brands that use cornstarch only.

Don't assume brands are safer

just because they're
more expensive.

If you're not sure
where to start,

download apps like Skin Deep,
Detox Me, and Clearya

which rate and rank
product safety

and list dangerous ingredients.

Corrin, voice-over:
Everything goes on hold

to deal with cancer.

My boyfriend and I haven't
been able to get married.

We haven't been able
to buy a house.

Now I need to
continue on with my life.

This is where we
host our weddings.

How many guests
are you thinking?

I am thinking probably
about a hundred guests.

A hundred?
Yeah.

OK. Great.

Corrin, voice-over: I want
my experience to have meaning

and not go in vain.

I just can't wait
to be a grandmother,

so--ha ha ha!--we need
to move this along.

[Laughter]

Like this?

Kristiana:
Perfect. OK.

It looks
like ice cream.

OK. Is your cone
in place?

Yeah.

OK. Press.

[Gasps]

Cool. OK. No. Stop.

Just dig it out.

Oof.

McHattie, voice-over:
I've started chemotherapy again.

We don't know how fast
this is gonna grow...

Oh, good fellow.

McHattie, voice-over:
but I don't feel like

I should complain

because there's an awful lot
of people out there...

um...

who've lost everything.

If I've got a chance to
do something, I'm gonna do it.

Somebody has to do it,

and if it's me, it'll be me.

Palmer: For more resources

on healthy and safe

makeup products,

scan this QR code.