FDA Talc-Asbestos Testing Rule Withdrawal Exposes Deep Rift Between MAHA Agenda and White House Corporate Interests
核心洞察
The FDA unexpectedly withdrew a proposed rule requiring asbestos testing for talc-containing cosmetics, blindsiding HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and his top deputies.
Johnson & Johnson lawyers used the withdrawal within hours in a California courtroom to discredit a plaintiff's expert witness, and the jury subsequently sided with the company.
The withdrawal was coordinated by White House lawyers and OMB officials following a visit from Johnson & Johnson executives, bypassing normal FDA review procedures.
On November 25, 2025, the FDA quietly withdrew a proposed rule that would have required manufacturers of talc-containing cosmetic products to test for asbestos — a move that blindsided Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., his top deputies, and FDA staff, yet appeared to be well-anticipated by lawyers for Johnson & Johnson.
The withdrawal, which bore Kennedy's name, was not the product of normal FDA regulatory review. Instead, according to five sources with knowledge of the events, it was coordinated by White House lawyers and officials at the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) following a White House visit from Johnson & Johnson executives. The company had been struggling to defend itself against thousands of lawsuits alleging that asbestos in its talc baby powder had caused ovarian and endometrial cancers.
Within little more than three hours of the withdrawal appearing on the FDA website — and three days before it was formally posted in the federal register — a Johnson & Johnson lawyer in a California courtroom was prepared to deploy the document. He used it to challenge a plaintiff's expert witness who specialized in the health effects of inhaling talc particles. "You know that the proposed rule that was shown to the jury — it was the very first document in this case — was withdrawn by the FDA as of this morning. You know that, right, sir?" the lawyer asked, according to a court transcript. The expert responded, "I wasn't aware of that."
The jury ultimately sided with Johnson & Johnson, finding the company had not been negligent in selling its talc-based powder. A Johnson & Johnson spokesperson stated, "The proposed rule was flawed and published without the requisite assessment of its adverse impact on the American public. We support the administration's efforts to ensure that gold-standard science prevails for the benefit of American patients."
A Withdrawal That Undermined Its Own Rationale
The wording of the FDA withdrawal claimed to advance Kennedy's Make America Healthy Again (MAHA) priorities, asserting that due to the complexity of asbestos testing, withdrawing the rule would help "ensure safe additives in the American food and drug supply." In reality, the action directly contradicted MAHA's stated mission of ridding the food and drug supply of contaminants.
When Kennedy learned of the withdrawal, his Principal Deputy Chief of Staff Stefanie Spear scrambled to determine its origin. Normally, such a reversal would undergo careful FDA staff review. Instead, the OMB — which has been dismantling the federal workforce and regulatory infrastructure during Trump's second term — pushed it through. Two senior administration officials defended the process, saying the withdrawal "went through the process it's supposed to go through" and that the OMB routinely rewrites rules.
"It was a heavily coordinated pharma job to have that thing revoked and have [Johnson & Johnson] lawyers include it in their trial argument within 24 hours," said one of the five sources familiar with the events.
The impact extended well beyond a single company. Because talc is an ingredient used widely in baby powder, cosmetics, medication, and even candy, withdrawing the proposed Biden-era testing rule offered significant regulatory relief to numerous companies across multiple industries.
The Broader Pattern: MAHA Undermined
The talc rule withdrawal represents what an FDA official described as a "first case" of "who supersedes in decision-making" — and it would not be the last. Over Kennedy's 16-month tenure, the MAGA White House's alliances with tobacco, pesticide, and pharmaceutical interests have repeatedly undercut MAHA priorities, often taking Kennedy and his deputies by surprise.
In February 2025, Trump issued an executive order on glyphosate, the main ingredient in Roundup that the World Health Organization classifies as a probable carcinogen. The order designated access to glyphosate as essential to agriculture and national security and proposed shielding domestic producers from liability. Kennedy, who had spent years as an environmental lawyer crusading against the pesticide, endorsed the order four days later — a move that wellness influencer Alex Clark likened to finding out "our husband was having an affair."
In early May 2025, the White House pushed the FDA to approve fruit-flavored vapes over the protest of FDA Commissioner Marty Makary, a Kennedy appointee. The move came days after an R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Company subsidiary donated $5 million to a MAGA super PAC and top company executives lunched with Trump at his Florida golf club. Makary subsequently resigned, followed by HHS Assistant Secretary for Public Affairs Rich Danker, who cited in his resignation letter the "approval of e-cigarette flavors that would appeal to children, and expose them to nicotine addiction, lung damage, and higher risk of cancer."
Leadership Chaos and Institutional Dysfunction
The MAHA-MAGA alliance, described by a Kennedy ally as a "construct born of political expediency," has been characterized by what more than 35 sources interviewed by Rolling Stone depict as damaged trust and declining reform momentum. Internal HHS documents reveal agency lawyers repeatedly warning officials that policy rollouts fail to comply with regulations or will not survive legal challenges.
Kennedy's leadership has drawn sharp criticism. He reportedly maintains a shortened 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. daily schedule with infrequent attendance at staff meetings. "Bobby is remarkably diminished," a Kennedy ally said. "He has had his wings clipped, big-time. He's struck me as tired."
The dysfunction reached a critical point with the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP). On June 9, 2025, Kennedy fired all 17 members, citing a "crisis of public trust." Yet the replacement process was haphazard: new members were named with almost no review of their finances or credentials. One nominee, Dr. Michael Ross, withdrew shortly before the first meeting after a review of his financial holdings. Another, Dr. Jon Poling, was vetted while driving at night en route to an ACIP meeting and subsequently withdrew due to financial conflicts.
Committee members later complained in text messages obtained by Rolling Stone that voting language came directly from Kennedy's office — particularly Spear and aide Dr. William "Reyn" Archer III — rather than through the statutorily required independent process. "This is the third version of the questions that we have received in 72 hours, and we're trying to evaluate a moving target," Dr. Joseph Hibbeln, a committee member, stated during deliberations.
In March 2025, a U.S. district court judge in Boston issued a preliminary injunction blocking Kennedy's revamped vaccination schedule, noting that six committee members lacked "any relevant vaccine-related experience or expertise."
Public Health Consequences
By the end of 2025, measles (搜索) cases in the United States reached 2,288 — a more than 700 percent increase from 2024 — leaving two children dead and threatening the measles-elimination status the U.S. earned 26 years ago. The U.S. is on track to lose that status if it is proven that a continuous outbreak could not be contained over 12 months.
Meanwhile, numerous HHS agencies sit leaderless. There is currently no Senate-confirmed CDC director, FDA director, National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases director, or surgeon general. The FDA's acting commissioner is described as a little-known lawyer who rose to prominence as Donald Trump Jr.'s hunting companion.
An HHS spokesperson defended the department's record, stating, "Under Secretary Kennedy's leadership, HHS is removing petroleum-based food dyes from the food supply, expanding nutrition education, lowering prescription drug costs, strengthening rural health care, restoring America's leadership in clinical research, and increasing transparency and accountability across our public-health institutions."
White House spokesman Kush Desai maintained that "MAHA is MAGA and MAGA is MAHA because a nation can only be as great as the health of its citizenry."
Yet inside HHS, the assessment is bleaker. This is "one of the darkest periods of public health in the history of America," said an HHS insider, adding, "Even though we're married, it's time to separate."