No More Tears: The Dark Secrets of Johnson & Johnson

by Gardiner Harris

An incendiary, deeply reported exposé of Johnson & Johnson, one of America’s oldest and most trusted pharmaceutical companies—from award-winning investigative journalist Gardiner Harris

One day in 2004, Gardiner Harris, early for a flight, sat down at an airport bar and started talking to the woman on the bar stool beside him. She was a drug sales rep for Johnson & Johnson, and her horrific story about unethical sales practices and the devastating impact they’d had on her family fundamentally changed the nature of how Harris covered the company—and the entire pharmaceutical industry—for The New York Times. His subsequent investigations and ongoing research since that conversation led to new federal laws and ultimately to No More Tears, a blistering exposé of a trusted American institution and the largest healthcare conglomerate in the world.

Harris takes us light years away from the company’s image as the child-friendly “baby company” as he uncovers reams of evidence showing decades of deceitful and dangerous corporate practices that have threatened the lives of millions. He covers multiple disasters: lies and cover-ups regarding baby powder’s link to cancer; the surprising dangers of Tylenol; a criminal campaign to sell dangerous anti-psychotics to children; a popular drug for cancer patients that increases the risk of tumor growth. Deceptive marketing efforts that accelerated opioid addictions rival even those of the Sacklers and Purdue Pharma. All told, Johnson & Johnson's products have helped cause drug crises that have contributed to the deaths of as many as two million people and counting.

Filled with shocking, infuriating, but utterly necessary revelations, No More Tears is a landmark work of investigative journalism that lays bare the deeply rooted corruption behind the image of babies bathing with a smile.

Genres: Nonfiction, History, Audiobook, Science, Business, True Crime, Politics

464 pages, Hardcover

First published April 8, 2025

About the author

Gardiner Harris covers international diplomacy for The New York Times. He previously served as a White House, South Asia, public health, and pharmaceutical reporter for the publication. Before working at the Times he worked at The Wall Street Journal and lived for four years in Hazard, Kentucky as the Eastern Kentucky bureau chief for the Louisville Courier Journal.

Reviews

[Brady Lockerby]

making the executive decision to dnf this because i am boredddd out of my mind! so much potential, but there’s just a lot of history and detail and i want juicy gossip. and YES i did count this towards my reading goal because i wasted too much time on it for it to not count for something!!

[JanB · Rating 5 out of 5]

Johnson & Johnson has built a health care empire that includes prescription and OTC drugs, orthopedic implants, and surgical products, as well as household products.

The company has had its share of scandals, government investigations, recalls, and lawsuits over the years.

Internal documents show J&J and its subsidiaries knew about problems with their products but sold them anyway.

None of this is new. Being in the health care field I’ve been hyper-aware of these issues. They’ve been reported in the news for decades. The conundrum is it would be nearly impossible for a consumer to avoid their products. A quick google search leads to hundreds of J&J products, too many to list here.

Documents show J&J and its subsidiaries knew about problems with some of their products but hid that information and sold them anyway. The most widely reported lawsuits involved:
* their baby/talcum powder, which contained asbestos, causing cancer. (please note it is now made with cornstarch)
* Risperdal, an anti-psychotic drug, which the company marketed to children and off-label uses despite knowing it caused gynecomastia (enlarged breasts) in males
* the surgical pelvic mesh which caused horrific side effects, including chronic pain, and erosion through the pelvic wall, ruining countless women’s lives.

Their corporate rap sheet makes the Sackler family look like Pollyanna.

Yes despite all this, they remain in business, and doing better than ever. Their aggressive marketing techniques are so successful J&J remains a trusted name despite their track record. They’ve diversified their products into multiple divisions to lesson the impact of lawsuits and massive settlements.

To be fair, they are not all bad. The majority of their products are safe & effective. After the Tylenol poisonings from an individual who laced the capsules with cyanide in 1982, the company had a massive recall, and led the way in developing tamper proof packaging. Other companies followed suit with the packaging we see today. The result was the halo effect on J&J.

Do not expect the government or the FDA to protect the public. This book highlights the issue with an in-depth look at the pharmaceutical giant’s long history and how they’ve endured despite scandal after scandal. Their legal team are experts at using the law to their advantage.

(As an aside: J&J voluntarily recalled neutrogena sunscreen after testing revealed the presence of benzene, a cancer causing chemical. The FDA knew this for months yet failed to take action)

So yes, not all bad, but when they are bad, they are very very bad.

But the real takeaway is that we, the public, are at the mercy of ALL pharmaceutical companies, trusting that they have our best interests at heart, and trusting the government and the FDA to keep us safe.

That blind trust is misplaced, evidenced by the exposés and ongoing legal battles in recent years. Changes must be made and I hope in the coming years this will be a priority in our government. No corporation should get away with deliberately withholding vital information from the public.

As consumers we must be informed - ask questions and do your own research into medications and products. Are there lawsuits or recalls involved in the drug or product? Support watchdog groups and consumer advocacy groups. And if you’ve been harmed get legal counsel and join class action lawsuits.

This was a book that Marialyce and I read, one that left us disheartened and disgusted.

[TheConnieFox · Rating 5 out of 5]

Update: There is a documentary on Netflix concerning the Tylenol murders.

If you have watched this, I want to know your thoughts and opinions.

-ˋˏ✄┈┈┈┈

March 22, 2025

My thoughts:

Reading no more tears, gave me tears! There is a lot of information about the Johnson and Johnson company, which are all facts. It took five years for this journalist to put everything together, all backed by evidence. The book is well researched and it has all the credible sources in it. This book left a disturbing impact on me. It was very well written and thought provoking. Throughout the book, I had experienced several emotions while reading this. I felt angry, upset, mad, confused and frustrated. Overall, I give this book a 5 out of 5 stars!

Thank you NetGalley, author and journalist Gardiner Harris, and Random House Publishing for this digital advanced reader’s copy in exchange for my honest review. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

This book is set to be published on April 8, 2025!

Disclaimer: My thoughts above are just my feelings about the book, not towards the Johnson & Johnson Company or anyone/anything else. The Johnson and Johnson Company is NOT responsible for the Tylenol murders. People are entitled to their own opinions in the comment section below, but unless it has proven factual evidence, they are just opinions. This book and the documentary on Johnson and Johnson both clearly state that the company is NOT responsible for the potassium cyanide that was found in Tylenol products back in 1982.

[Hannah · Rating 4 out of 5]

I thought the Sacklers were evil personified. Turns out, they were just doing what everyone else in the pharmaceutical industry was/is/still are doing.

FDA is a sad, sad joke. If any agency should be gutted, it should probably be the FDA. They seem to be extremely ineffective and susceptible to corporate pressure in every book of this type that I read (ok, they did do a lot to bring down Perdue, but it took far too long and a horrendous amount of reluctance).

This book makes it impossible to trust my doctors or any prescription and over-the-counter med or consumer product out there. The irony, of course, is that trust was Johnson & Johnson's greatest asset - until it wasn't.

I was surprised mostly by the breadth of reach J&J has. For example, I had no idea that they also produced baby food or breast implants.

Speaking of reproductive body parts, I really wished the author would've found another word to use aside from "crotch." It just sounded so icky the way it was written.

I'm definitely a victim of socialized normalization of deviance - I'd gotten so busy that I stopped checking labels and researching every med and supplement I put into my body. Time to get diligent again, especially now that I'm retired. Will need to check multiple sources too, because numbers and testing are meaningless when they are generated by the pharmas themselves.

Caveat emptor!, and thank you Jay for this rec.

[Brendan (History Nerds United) · Rating 5 out of 5]

At the conclusion of Empire of Pain, by Patrick Radden Keefe, I thought, "Wow, no book will ever make me as enraged at a pharmaceutical company as this one."

Well, wrong again. Not only that, if you made me guess which company would top Purdue Pharma, I never would have guessed Johnson & Johnson. Turns out, that's kind of the point of the book.

Gardiner Harris takes down the pinnacle of pharmaceutical reputation in his book No More Tears. Personally, while I knew Johnson & Johnson had a good reputation, I also knew their baby powder turned out to be a health hazard. I didn't realize it was because it had ASBESTOS in it. There was a huge case where J&J took it on the chin. Oh, do you think I just told you the whole book? I just covered one section of this book. One. Section.

I want to be clear that this also isn't the story of bad medicine. This is bad, immoral, and evil business. J&J didn't just put out bad products. They lied about them to the FDA, their patients, and anyone who asked questions. Harris also looks at how the company was able to avoid scandal after scandal and still keep its sterling reputation.

Harris is an excellent writer, and the book flowed easily. It also helped that it was exceptionally well laid out. The book is broken up by the type of medical category and then the offending product. It wasn't just baby powder. Or Tylenol. Or anti-psychotics. Or vaginal mesh. Or artificial hips. Or....ok, you can just read the rest.

I highly recommend it. Prepare to be enraged.

(This book was provided as a review copy by Random House. All opinions are my own.)

[Marialyce · Rating 5 out of 5]

To say I am shocked is putting it mildly. A trusted company found in most homes turned out to be a vile, money hungry giant who has deceived, lied, and murdered countless numbers of people because of greed.

The first instance was baby powder, a product I know I used on my children unknowingly, that it contained asbestos. While the company knew, they continued to push this product into our hands, hiding its dangers and the possibility of cancer.

With a cadre of lawyer, leaders who pushed sales, lies, edited reports, and hubris, baby powder and other products were advertised on TV, in magazines, and the trust people had in J&J products was fostered and developed. Worse than the Shaklers of Purdue fame, J&J was the base of the opioid crisis well aware of the the addiction that follows these drugs.

As the author, explained the FDA seems to be useless, powerless against this mega giant of a corporation. (and others) Of course there were some mega settlements made but to this company whose profits were in the multi billions, it had little or no effect.

Illness is how these companies survive for a healthy person is not their customer. J&J jumped on the Corona virus frenzy and produced another faulty product. Like the vaginal mesh, which caused thousands of women pain and in some cases countless operations, it was finally quietly pulled from the market, but it had already done its damage.

I think the adage of trust but verify is the mantra we need to follow and for me, I will try to not buy a one of J&J products.

This is a frightening book, one that makes a very strong case for we as consumers to be wary of grandiose promises, cute advertising, and the mantra of "everyone uses our products". A very sad commentary on the state of drug companies and their avarice.

[Audrey · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a MUST-READ because the information here is INSANE. Mr. Gardiner is a journalist who meticulously researched for this book: a full 32 percent (a third) of the book is notes. Information comes from company memos, court transcripts, patient records, FDA records, and other scientific data.

The writing is engaging and gripping—it’s rare to find a nonfiction book that is so hard to put down! The writing is not sensationalist nor politically biased; either end of the political spectrum will be gripped by the book and its information. Absolutely recommended for EVERYBODY.

Most drug companies will work on a drug, test it out, and then sell it if looks good. If not, it’s back to the drawing board. J & J will market and sell it even it does no good or even does harm. It can make millions before it ends up paying a few paltry million in fines. Because so many lawyers work for Big Pharma, it’s considered a career killer for a lawyer to bring a suit against any of them. As the FDA is funded by the drug companies, it has no teeth and is really a joke. Drug companies donate tons of money to members of Congress, so they are reluctant to pass laws regarding drug safety. Doctors get kickbacks from drug sales even though it’s illegal.

(As a side note, I am puzzled when I see safe, older drugs shunted aside in favor of expensive, untested ones. I also wondered how the abortion pill got approved when it is so dangerous and then the requirement of doctor supervision was removed. The FDA/drug industry environment described in the book explains all that.)

The book covers the most serious drugs/products in chronological order:
– talc-based baby powder (talcum powder contains traces of asbestos and is virtually identical to asbestos in itself)
– Tylenol (causes liver failure)
– Procrit (useless and made things worse)
– Risperdal (anti-psychotic they pushed for off-label use for the elderly to keep them sleepy and docile and caused serious damage to children)
– Duragesic fentanyl patch (J & J’s role in the opioid crisis dwarfed that of the Sacklers’ and others who usually get the blame)
– Ortho Evra birth control patch (released dangerous levels of hormones)
– hip implants (purposely used a faulty design that caused immense pain and cost to patients)
– vaginal mesh (never a good idea and caused only harm)
– Covid vaccine (less effective than competitors’ with more serious side effects)

Yet they have come out with some great products that have helped many. So how much condemnation is deserved?



I was offered an ARC by somebody. I don’t remember who or why, but many thanks. Quotes are from the ARC and not the final proof.

===============================

With insurers picking up the tab, prescription drug prices soared while those of over-the-counter medicines—which patients still must pay for themselves—rose only modestly.

Risperdal and similar antipsychotic medicines caused as many as 1.2 million needless deaths among the elderly.

To this day, some 21 percent of nursing home residents are given Risperdal and other antipsychotics—mostly to keep them quiet.

Johnson & Johnson has long been one of the biggest individual patrons of corporate law firms in the world.

Seventy-five times more powerful than morphine, fentanyl can lead patients to stop breathing and die.

Sixty years passed between the introduction of Johnson’s Baby Powder and clear evidence that it contained asbestos. Nearly twenty years separated Tylenol’s introduction and discovery that it was the most dangerous over-the-counter medicine on the market. Even with Procrit, a couple of years passed between the drug’s introduction and clear evidence that it was deadly. Likewise with Risperdal.

The FDA is now so wholly captive to those it supposedly regulates that agency officials routinely refer to drug and device companies as their made customer and concern, not consumers or the American public. Even so, the agency’s deference to J & J has been remarkable.

By the end of 2019, the company was facing lawsuits from nearly 18,000 women claiming that Baby Powder had given them cancer, with tens of thousands more to follow. At the same time, J & J was being sued by 11,000 claiming injuries from the company’s hip implants, nearly 21,000 over its pelvic meshes, 11,900 over Risperdal, 29,000 because of blood thinner Xarerlto, and 400 from its diabetes drug Invokana.

Few companies in American history have had a wider gap between their public reputation and their actual conduct than J & J—a gulf it bridged with enormous advertising budgets, ingenious public relations campaigns, and massive piles of money.

Again and again, Johnson & Johnson sold dangerous products and hid the risks from patients and regulators, all while being praised for a high standard of ethics. That praise most often emanated from a professional class—doctors, lawyers, and academics—that J & J sponsored with huge payments that compromosed their ethics. On top of all that, Johnson & Johnson’s colossal influence operation in Washington—one beginning in the nineteenth century—successfully neutered nearly all federal efforts at taming it. A small but significant measure of this achievement is that Johnson & Johnson remains the only corporation in the world that can freely use the symbol of the Red Cross, because of special legislation passed by Congress. No other company in the world owns such license.

Its budget largely underwritten by industry fees, the FDA has long been captive to the medical and food companies that it regulates. But most Americans are still under the mistaken impression that the FDA is a tough cop, one of the most strict and powerful regulatory agencies in the country.

The FDA does often enough approve prescription medicines that are less effective, more dangerous, and more expensive than over-the-counter remedies. Agency standards simply require that a drug be proven effective. No comparisons with already-approved medicines—either from efficacy or safety standpoints—are generally required.

===================================

Clean content; includes descriptions of drug and medical injuries

[Roman Clodia · Rating 4 out of 5]

Few companies in American history have had a wider gap between their public reputation and their actual conduct than J&J - a gulf it bridged with enormous marketing budgets, ingenious public relations campaigns, and massive piles of money.

... everyone wants to talk about Purdue and the Sacklers, and I'll often respond by talking about J&J, but people just aren't interested in hearing about J&J or look at me oddly when I mention it. They've branded their company brilliantly.

... in OxyContin's place, Duragesic's [J&J's fentanyl] prescriptions soared... J&J began making the very same false promise that had worked so well for OxyContin: Duragesic isn't addictive.

Duragesic's fentanyl is seventy-five times more powerful than morphine, and far more addictive and dangerous than the medicine in OxyContin.

For anyone, like me, who though Empire of Pain: The Secret History of the Sackler Dynasty was shocking, you must read this book. Everyone should read this book. It's one of the most damning exposés of capitalism at its most corrupt and deadly, and lets no one off the hook - not least the writer himself who, as a public health and pharmaceutical reporter for The New York Times (and previously wrote for the WSJ) accepts his own blindness to what was happening on his journalistic watch.

This is deeply researched piece that took five years 'gathering tens of thousands of documents, reading through hundreds of thousands of pages of trial transcripts, and contacting hundreds of executives and employees. Among the records I uncovered are secret grand jury files' passed criminally from sources who couldn't bear what J&J had done. The narrative finishes at around 50% of this ebook edition and the rest is evidence, references and sources.

Harris organises his investigation around case studies of corporate malfeasance:

1) the now infamous revealed cover-up over Johnson's Baby Powder that for decades has been sold knowing that it was contaminated with asbestos and that the mineral talc itself was a proven carcinogen;

2) the deliberate misselling of the antipsychotic Risperdal that was licensed for schizophrenia but which J&J pushed illegally as a drug for symptoms of anxiety, depression, dementia and childhood 'bad conduct'. Especially heinous is the extent to which they lied, falsified statistics and clinical trials and ignored FDA rulings to push this inappropriate drug as a tranquilizer for vulnerable children and the elderly: the high level of prolactin in the drug caused boys to grow breasts (gynecomastia) that could only be removed through a double mastectomy, and for both boy and girl children to lactate;

3) the creation and support of the opioid epidemic through vast poppy estates in Tasmania that sold the raw materials derived from morphine to other companies including Purdue, the Sacklers' company that produced OxyContin; as well as J&J's own opioid, Duragesic (fentanyl) which, they consistently and fraudulently claimed, against the mounting scientific evidence, was not addictive. In fact, Duragesic's fentanyl is seventy-five times more powerful than morphine, and far more addictive and dangerous than OxyContin. It's worth a reminder here of the cynical business reasons for the rise of opioid prescriptions: they'd previously been used only for terminal cancer pain relief and end-of-life palliative care where the balance of efficacy versus strength tilted against addiction being a long-term problem but, from the pharma point of view, the necessity for such strong pain relief already indicated a patient dying soon so the prescription didn't have a long life. Far more money could be made by converting doctors to prescribing opioids for more everyday pain relief in patients living with long-term, non-fatal pain such as osteoarthritis, back pain etc., or even short-term pain associated with operations and similar despite knowing how fatally addictive the drugs were - hence the current epidemic;

4) the development and sale of the Ortho Evra contraceptive patch for women designed to replace old high-oestrogen pills that brought significant blood-clotting, stroke and heart attack dangers, However, the patch didn't work, releasing either higher oestrogen levels than the old pills, or not enough leading to accidental pregnancies in women despite using the patch correctly. The high oestrogen soon led to young women having heart attacks, lung clots, strokes and deep vein thrombosis. As usual, J&J had covered up their knowledge of the malfunction, fiddled with the clinical trial statistics and lied to doctors, the medical profession and the FDA.

Throughout, there are keynotes that we see again and again: J&J knowing their products are dangerous but putting profits before patients as they lied and forced their salespeople to lie to clinicians. There is the toothlessness of the FDA which, since the 1990s, has been funded by user fees from the pharma companies they are supposed to be policing - many times we see the FDA not asking the required questions or, when they have spotted a problem, telling the company what to do in terms of on-packet warnings or illegal marketing strategies and just standing by as J&J ignores them. The integrated power of J&J is immense: they can threaten to pull their massive advertising budgets from media outlets if negative stories come out in the press; they have a hold over doctors, researchers, medical schools and prescribing authorities by the amount of money they spend on legal, though unethical, kickbacks, 'grants', 'education programmes' and other financial incentives, as well as the well-used dirty tricks to discredit research that doesn't support their products. Even reputable medical journals are funded by J&J so they have editorial control over what information is made available to the medical research community. Throughout, we witness J&J executives lying under oath to the FDA and federal courts and going unpunished.

In the end, Harris concludes 'that Johnson & Johnson has gotten away with so much is a devastating indictment of the country's for-profit healthcare model' - which feels a little like an understatement given all that we've just read.

This book was published this month - April 2025 - and a quick Google shows that, unsurprisingly, the FDA, however toothless it is, has already been decimated even further by DOGE cuts to facilities, mass firings of staff and the termination of projects. Isn't capitalism wonderful?

[BookOfCinz · Rating 4 out of 5]

Nothing could prepare me for how dark Johnson & Johnson could be

One thing about me? I am going to read a book that is well researched and blows the whistle on big corporations. As someone who is very familiar with the Johnson & Johnson brand, I don’t think I was prepared for how dark it got. I understand as a consumer I have to do my own research and that pharmaceutical companies are after their own interest, but I was blown away by the lack of concern for the public.

Here are some things I learned:
1. The baby/talcum powder was known to contain asbestos which led to cancer for some women. A lot of women ended up getting cancer from using it.

2. The Tylenol was known to cause the death of persons who took it because it was laced with a deadly ingredient.

3. The surgical pelvic mesh for women who were having bladder problems had life changing side effects including erosion of the pelvic wall, chronic pain and overall a product that didn’t do what it was supposed to do.

4. Risperdal, the anti-psychotic drug which was marketed to children and older persons with dementia, it was known to cause gynecomastia (enlarged breasts) in male. A lot of children ended up gaining a lot of weight.

5. Why as a consumer company, is Johnson & Johnson allowed to use the logo of the Red Cross? They were granted permission by congress and is the only company allowed to do so.

6. The fentanyl patch showcased J&H role in the opioid crisis. They literally bought an island off the coast of Australia to just farm the drug.

7. There is the Ortho Evra birth control patch which led to women getting pregnant while using the patch and it released dangerous levels of hormones.

8. J&J also sold hip implants which was faulty designed and costed patients a lot of money which in turn caused them a lot of pain.

9. More recent is the covid vaccine which had serious side effects and was less effective than the other drugs on the market.

I think was really stood out as well was how the FDA was not doing their job. So many of the drugs and testing that were supposed to be done did not meet the mark.

This is such an important read. I will say the author dragged some of the chapters but it is clear that this book is well researched- I mean 100 pages was dedicated to citation.

[Brandice · Rating 4 out of 5]

When you thought baby powder was “the” scandal…

The level of detail and research Gardiner Harris shares in No More Tears is impressive. From the Tylenol murders to baby powder, to dangerous prescription medicines and more, Harris covers it all.

Healthcare is a business and reading No More Tears did nothing to change my mind about this. The revelations here are intense, not super surprising, and yet still very disappointing.

[Royal · Rating 5 out of 5]

It seems like these days there are books and documentaries one after another exposing the unethical business practices and practices of corporations. Before reading this, I didn’t realize how huge of an influence Johnson & Johnson had on the pharmaceutical industry, outside of baby products (and the infamous talc baby powder case) and the COVID-19 vaccine. There’s so much more that they created, including Tylenol, band-aids, cotton pads, plus Janssen, a company they acquired, created the fentanyl compound. Also who knew that J & J basically created the opioid crisis? Crazy.

I’ve also known about the talc in baby powder causing cancer since I was a teenager, so it’s insane to me that it wasn’t pulled off the shelves until as recently as 2023. Sadly, J & J has a steep history of sweeping things under the rug, and it’s good that these issues are being brought to light, so that we can advocate for consumer rights and protections in the future and make more informed choices, especially when regulatory authorities fail us. I also appreciate the fact that the book cover design resembles the baby powder bottle, which used to be the “crown jewel” of their products.

The book details the start of J & J in the late 1800s (with their shrewd business-minded strategies) to their habit of intimidating researchers and reporters in modern times, so quite an extensive history. Aside from their marketed image as a family company, I personally think that pharmaceutical companies tend to hold a lot of public trust based on the fundamental concept that they are helping to develop cures and medical treatments. So it’s always disappointing to see a company prioritize profits over consumers. J & J have caused a huge death toll and unnecessary loss of human lives with their poor decisions and frequent cover ups. It was infuriating to read about acetaminophen for me because of how many people I personally know that rely on it due to its purported safety. My biggest takeaway from this book is that I’ll probably read scientific publications of medications before taking anything at face value now.

The author, Gardiner Harris, is a former public health and pharmaceutical investigative reporter for the New York Times, so basically the perfect person to write this exposé. With the amazing wealth of information, you can trust that this book is well researched yet easy to digest (although the same cannot be stated of J&J’s business ethics).

Special thanks to Random House Publishing Group and NetGalley for providing an eARC in exchange for an honest, independent review.

[Traci Thomas · Rating 4 out of 5]

Wow. So Johnson & Johnson sucks and has been sucking for decades. This one is a major eye opener. A bit redundant in spots but mostly very good and keeps you interested to see how bad J&J will be this time.

[Kenzie | kenzienoelle.reads]

Finally. Finished.

I have never been so livid reading a book. Johnson & Johnson. Marketed as a family company. Utter BS.

I’m not going to give any kind of full review because quite frankly emotionally I just can’t. But it is heartbreaking and disgusting that the wrongs and death that have come from this company have been so easily to wash over and they continue to be profitable and have a family friendly image. Makes me nauseous.

The amount of research that the author did was amazing and honestly s/o to him for bringing this egregious behavior to more eyes.

[Lorie · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was eye opening, you have heard the stories regarding products that were causing harm but the details in this book had my face in a constant state of shock and horror. At the end the author offers solutions, this is the reason everyone needs to read these details. I think most people who really see what’s going on in healthcare today know for profit healthcare is not in our best interest. It’s usually not something others want to look at until something happens to them or one of their loved ones before they can see enough that actions needs to be taken. so….. First action read this book!

[Sheila · Rating 4 out of 5]

There is a special lace in hell for most of the people in this book. What Johnson and Johnson, doctors, scientists, sales reps, pharmacys, and the fda, did was murder. Murder for profit. Kill people with asbestos, and drugs, that should not of been given to the elderly or children.

[Moonkiszt · Rating 4 out of 5]

A terrifying expose. . .I've had daily contact with this company since I was born.

Starting with baby powder - my mother was a fan to her dying day fluffing it about herself and our baby selves, and our babies' . . .didn't matter your age. . .dampness of every kind was powdered. That's just the beginning of what Gardiner Harris has to say, pulling the walls down to show what's been happening these many, many years.

A dark warning, and I don't usually listen to those (I'm the one with my hands over my ears, shaking my head and singing lalalalalalala). I read this through to the very end. All I can do is put my most intense, full eye contact stare out to all with eyes to see and ears to hear this simple recommendation: Read this. Then walk through your life and see where J&J has been.

Terrifying.

*A sincere thank you to Gardiner Harris, Random House Publishing Group - Random House, and NetGalley for an ARC to read and review independently.* #NoMoreTears #NetGalley 25|52:41c

[Caleb Fogler · Rating 5 out of 5]

No More Tears:The Dark Secrets of Johnson & Johnson by Gardiner Harris is an immensely detailed investigation into one of the world’s largest pharmaceutical company and the greed and cover ups of the company’s top executives that has led to the death of countless lives.

This book is perfect for fans of Patrick Radden Keefe’s Empire of Pain: The Secret History of the Sackler Dynasty, or everyone who are interested in uncovering the misdeeds within the pharmaceutical industry. The difference between the OxyContin creators and J&J are the vast amounts of faulty products that J&J have created, marketed, distributed, and hidden the flaws of from the world. From asbestos ridden cancer causing baby powder, fatal extra strength Tylenol, and tumor causing birth control patches and knee or hip replacements among others, J&J have caused the death of countless of individuals.

While this book details each product and cover up in detail, Harris also explains how the US Food and Drug Administration failed to hold J&J or the executives responsible because J&J and the pharmaceutical industry basically funds the agency. This book can be hard for many readers as the vast amount of people probably know someone affected by this company but I believe it is an important read for anyone who regularly uses products from this company, which is most people in America.

[Sandra The Old Woman in a Van]

I can strongly endorse the idea that others read this book. I will not review or rate it because I worked for JNJ for almost 20 years, and JNJ loves litigation (I do not). It was a riveting read (IMO).

[Jenna · Rating 4 out of 5]

Wow, this book was quite an undertaking both to read and, I would imagine, to research and write: it was a LOT. I am exhausted! Basically, J and J is worse than you could ever imagine. No surprises there probably, but this book is just chock full of detail after damning detail. It relentlessly assails you with endless examples of times over the decades when the company faced a number of options in the face of a problem and without fail chose the “screw everything and everyone but our profits” path, to the detriment of safety, legality, risks v. rewards calculations, and medical efficacy. Some of the things they did I hadn’t even imagined could be (borderline) legal: let’s just bury those inconvenient studies, folks! Apparently, the FDA has also been far less equipped to step in and protect the consumer than you’d even believe. The book provides in-depth coverage of scandalous J and J incidents and health hazards including but not limited to:


-those related to baby powder and talc (aka pretty much mostly asbestos, apparently). This was traumatic as I do recall my childhood friends’ female relatives and older sisters using a shit ton of baby powder as a standard part of their getting-ready routine. There is also some interesting discussion of how the company’s reputation remained pretty bulletproof in the face of all these horrible episodes largely because of its ruthlessly wholesome branding and marketing: The Baby Company! The carefully concocted and focus group-tested aromatherapeutic psychology of their signature powder got them a long way too.


-Tylenol risks and contamination scares (you only ever hear the complimentary B School case studies about how well the company responded to the infamous Chicago Tylenol poisoning incident - but there’s more!)


-early birth control pills and the Ortho Evra patch. I was on that patch super briefly at the strong encouragement of a questionable medical professional and felt so extremely horrible that - fortunately - my exposure to it ended up being very limited. Apparently, the adverse side effects were well known, as were the odds that it very well could have killed me, which nobody had bothered to mention and which was especially terrible given that I had no problem remembering to take the pill daily and I wasn’t even really using it for contraception? To this day, I can only imagine that prescribing doctor’s enthusiasm must have been influenced in some way by the various shady Purdue Pharma type sales, marketing, and promotion tactics detailed in the book. (Oh yeah: the book also details how J and J is basically an equal or even worse perpetrator than even they are when it comes to contributing to the opioid epidemic disaster).


-faulty internal medical devices (very painful chapters to read)


-their botched and short-lived Covid vaccine.


…and MUCH MORE, honestly this book is beyond comprehensive, and any of its multiple, lengthy, and detailed sections could probably have been a book all on its own.


I do love a corrupt corporate history, but dang. This was super depressing. Although important, of course! This author was not screwing around here: this book is an utter takedown and a serious inditement. I did love to hear about the occasional internal whistleblower and conscientious objector who stood up for justice, but man, were they ever few and far between.

[Ashley · Rating 5 out of 5]

Oh okay good I'll just never use any product again ever 🫠 this is terrifying. How did we miss this?????

REVIEW:

This friggin book (𝘤𝘰𝘮𝘱𝘭𝘪𝘮𝘦𝘯𝘵) 🫠
It isn’t the kinda nonfic you can separate yourself from, there’s no keeping this at an arm’s length. 𝘉𝘦𝘭𝘪𝘦𝘷𝘦 𝘮𝘦, 𝘐 𝘵𝘳𝘪𝘦𝘥. I wish this was the kinda expose you can picture the author writing w their tin foil 🧢 on, but this is legit. Disturbingly, abhorrently so.

Most startling were all the dots this connected. After each chapter I’d notice the mental list I’d made of who in my life was likely impacted by J&J. My gma’s cancer? Even more curious now that I know just how prevalent the talc & asbestos contamination was—& for how long. My guy friend in high school, convinced he was growing “moobs”? My bad dude. I remember you mentioning starting a new psych med, maybe (probably) you were right & gynecomastia was a side effect. My cousin’s drug addiction, so bad he was—still is—left at the total mercy of healthcare? Thanks, J&J (among other things, but still). 𝐈’𝐝 𝐛𝐞𝐭 𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐲 𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐝𝐞𝐫 𝐤𝐧𝐨𝐰𝐬 𝟐 𝐩𝐞𝐨𝐩𝐥𝐞 𝐰𝐡𝐨 𝐡𝐚𝐯𝐞 𝐛𝐞𝐞𝐧 𝐝𝐢𝐫𝐞𝐜𝐭𝐥𝐲 𝐢𝐦𝐩𝐚𝐜𝐭𝐞𝐝 𝐛𝐲 𝐉&𝐉’𝐬 𝐧𝐞𝐠𝐥𝐢𝐠𝐞𝐧𝐜𝐞, 𝐚𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐯 𝐥𝐞𝐚𝐬𝐭.

𝙉𝙤 𝙈𝙤𝙧𝙚 𝙏𝙚𝙖𝙧𝙨 is a nonfic must. But be warned, you’ll spend an extra few min picking your hygiene products or convincing yourself to pop that newly prescribed 💊 afterward. I joke, but fr make sure you’re in a decent headspace to take this on. To say it made my anxiety spike would be the understatement of the century, & 𝘐’𝘮 𝘯𝘰𝘵 𝘤𝘦𝘳𝘵𝘢𝘪𝘯 𝘪𝘵’𝘴 𝘤𝘰𝘮𝘦 𝘢𝘭𝘭 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘸𝘢𝘺 𝘣𝘢𝘤𝘬 𝘥𝘰𝘸𝘯.
Plz plz plz don’t let the inherent negativity turn you off tho! Again, this is a nonfic must. 𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘮𝘰𝘴𝘵 𝘦𝘯𝘳𝘢𝘱𝘵𝘶𝘳𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘦𝘹𝘱𝘰𝘴𝘦 𝘐’𝘷𝘦 𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘳 𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘥, & 𝘐’𝘷𝘦 𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘥 𝘢 𝘭𝘰𝘵 𝘰𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘮.

I opted for 🎧 & loved it. Gardiner narrates & it’s always a treat to hear from the author themselves. His pacing & intonation were perf. I didn’t zone out once, a huge win for me 😂 I’d rec 🎧, but you can’t go wrong either way. As you can see, this was so good I needed a 🏆📖 to reference when sharing the not-very-fun facts I learned.

[Erin · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.5 Stars!

"No other healthcare system is as expensive or ineffective. None in the developed world loses a greater share of its participants to preventable deaths. Middle-class Americans have long accepted the system's downsides under the mistaken belief that the poor are the only ones disadvantaged."

Would the world be a better place if Johnson & Johnson had never existed?

The answer is YES

Johnson & Johnson as a company are mass murderers. J&J is the largest healthcare conglomerate in the world and one of the only companies with AAA credit rating. PR does wonders because almost everyone has a positive opinion of them despite the fact that they knew their baby powder was deadly but continued to sell it and hid the studies that proved the danger.

This book is about J&J, but the FDA gets aired out as well. FDA is purposely useless. Lobbyists run the FDA. The FDA ignored, enabled, or encouraged every disaster in this book. Millions of Americans died because of the FDAs willful negligence.

Side Story: After the covid vaccines came out, I obviously signed my dad up to get it. He was supposed to get the J&J one jab. We arrived at Kroger to get his shot only to learn that just 30 minutes earlier, the J&J jabs had been paused. He eventually got the Pfizer shot.

We joke in my family that my late great mom stepped in . I'm to save my dad from the J&J shot.

Now back to the fuckery...

J&J harmed women with the painful vaginal mesh, the harmed children with ADHD drugs that among other things led to boys developing breast. They continue to kill elderly people with a drug that they know doesn't help with dementia. They got to skate on their culpability with the opioid crisis (I know I need to read Empire of Pain).

Johnson and Johnson is an evil company, and unfortunately, nothing will ever happen to them. They will continue to murder people and get richer and richer.

A must read.

[Anita Pomerantz · Rating 3 out of 5]

I listened to the audio for this book, and I think it would have been 4 stars had I read it instead. It's definitely an indictment of J&J, but I think it would have been more persuasive if I could have seen what was sourced/footnoted/cited. Also, I was not enamored with the reading itself . . .which I think is so personal, but the intonations just didn't work for me.

As a reading experience, it didn't really hold up to say Bad Blood: Secrets and Lies in a Silicon Valley Startup. It was more along the lines of Empire of Pain: The Secret History of the Sackler Dynasty. Very detailed and could have perhaps used a tad more editing.

The book covers tragic events involving baby powder, breast implants, pelvic mesh, Tylenol, Rispirdal, Procrit, Duragesic, fentanyl, birth control pills, hip implants, and the COVID vaccine. Some stories were more damning than others. Personally, I thought the Rispirdal journalism was the most compelling in terms of clearly demonstrating wrong doing, closely followed by the hip implants - - but the focus of the book is more on baby powder and Tylenol. Probably because both those examples built J&J's branding into one of the most trusted brands ever.

The journalist was absolutely indicting the FDA nearly as much as Johnson and Johnson. In some ways, I thought the details regarding the FDA were more interesting and more alarming. Let's just say I thought the FDA was doing a better job than it was/is. Not sure why I thought that because in general, I am unimpressed with government functionality. The FDA is no different, but when they don't function well, people can die. It does bolster my belief that if you can avoid taking medication, it's likely for the best.

At the end, the journalist tipped his hand on his politics, and in some ways, I felt this actually diminished his journalistic effort here.

But the cover! Whoever designed this cover - - KUDOS. I think it's really terrific. It almost makes me wish I bought a hardcover copy.

Worthwhile if you like corporate history, true crime or are interested in medicine and have the patience.

[Zoë! · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.5 This book…… truly horrifying.

I had no clue in the slightest how corrupt Johnson & Johnson was until picking this up on a whim, and am shocked at how good a reputation they continue to uphold after the heinous amount of people that their greed and negligence has either killed or permanently disabled, in ways including but not limited to:

- Their baby powder’s link to Ovarian cancer
- A drug prescribed to cancer patients that stimulated tumor growth (!!!!!!!)
- Failing to include the proper warnings on Tylenol
- Prescribing anti-psychotics off label to the elderly (shortening their lifespans) and children (stimulating breast growth in hundreds of thousands of boys)
- A majority of opioid crisis victims being attributed to them — namely for introducing fentanyl as “not addictive”
- Creating the least effective COVID vaccine which spurred the most recent surge in anti-vax rhetoric
- Introducing a birth control patch that was recalled for causing blood clots, heart attacks, and death
- Developing hip replacements that they knew would not work and had NEVER BEEN TESTED
- Treating pelvic floor issues with “vaginal mesh” that caused severe pain and didn’t work


All of which they KNEW ABOUTTTTT and half the time the FDA knew too and dgaf 😭

Overall one of the most thrilling nonfiction books I’ve read. It made me sick just listening to it, but I could not stop reading. Highly recommend reading this and boycotting J&J.

[Amy Biggart]

it has a similar energy but different approach than Empire of Pain, but you get the sense in reading this that for all we talk about Purdue Pharma, Johnson & Johnson is the one who should have to answer for their actions. It’s just baffling to listen to all the ways this company acted in the worst interest of their customers’ health, all to make more money.

Special place in hell for these J&J execs, and i hope they see it sooner rather than later

[Erin Holt | Dear Reader · Rating 5 out of 5]

Do you know what the most dangerous over the counter medication is? Prepare to be shocked because even as a medical professional, I would never have guessed….

Tylenol.

And that’s NOT because of the cyanid laced capsules that killed several people in the early 80s. It’s because J&J has continued to cover up research, withhold documentation, and essentially bribed away a warning label on its product. This is just one of several examples expertly researched and presented in this book. Asbestos laced baby powder anyone? Johnson & Johnson has a pattern of deceitful business practice that systematically hid, ignored, and changed research over century’s to benefit their business. They used money, power, and influence to convince doctors of safe and effective drugs and medical devices, while at the same time knowingly exposing consumers to life threatening side effects.

Risperdal, an anti psychotic, was pushed on children with ADHD (shocking a tranquilizer had a “tranquillizing” effect), only to have young boys grow breasts (something that is not reversible), and cause young boys and girls to lactate. Parents pitched this medication were never told of this potential side effect. Then pushed on patient with dementia, a mental condition that does not need anti psychotic meds, it increased incidence of stroke and heart attack exponentially. Procrit, touted to increase blood cell development in cancer patients, only had a “miracle grow” effect on tumors and made their cancers worse. It was never proven to have any positive effect on treatment yet was prescribed over and over again for decades.

These are just two of the many medications and medical devices discussed at length in this book. This was so well presented and feels like required reading for consumers and medical professionals alike. I went through so many emotions reading this: anger, outrage, disbelief, it was very hard at times to reckon with the choices J&J made despite so much hard evidence right under their nose. Literally changing the way they were testing the talc for asbestos to a test that purposefully omitted asbestos from the results. When it was knowingly causing cancer….I’m still angry about that while typing this. Thousands of women have died of ovarian cancer directly linked to J&J baby powder. Yet they did nothing but cover up their findings and continue to sell baby powder with talc. It’s unimaginable.

I could go on and on, but I won’t. Go read this book.

[Cindy Burnett (Thoughts from a Page) · Rating 5 out of 5]

4.5 stars

[CatReader · Rating 4 out of 5]

Gardiner Harris is a public health and pharma journalist; his 2025 book No More Tears focuses on various scandals in the history of American pharmaceutical giant, Johnson & Johnson. This is a very in-depth read (464 page book/14 hour audiobook) that goes back decades, from J&J's founding to various scandals going back decades (baby powder, Tylenol), making a predictable sojourn through pain management (Duragesic, J&J's fentanyl formulation), passing through medical devices (hip implants, vaginal mesh), and ending with lawsuits, FDA criticisms, COVID vaccines, and various other critiques.

Overall I found this well-written and compelling, though as an MD (albeit one who doesn't interface with J&J drugs or devices in my practice) I am skeptical of Gardiner's suggestions for reforming the FDA and out-regulating pharma bad behavior as it interfaces with the medical system. For instance, Harris at one point accuses companies that go the cheaper, more expedited 510k route to get a new drug or device FDA approved (vs the much longer, much pricier PMA route) as wrongfully shortcutting the system, and then suggests at the end that doctors need to be held more accountable for deriving any personal gain from pharma or medical device companies courting them -- and both situations are more nuanced and complicated than Harris probably realizes.

Further reading: additional context on the regulation of drugs and medical devices, and how the system can be gamed
The Poison Squad: One Chemist's Single-Minded Crusade for Food Safety at the Turn of the Twentieth Century by Deborah Blum
The Demon Under the Microscope: From Battlefield Hospitals to Nazi Labs, One Doctor's Heroic Search for the World's First Miracle Drug by Thomas Hager
Wonder Drug: The Secret History of Thalidomide in America and Its Hidden Victims by Jennifer Vanderbes
Pharma: Greed, Lies, and the Poisoning of America by Gerald Posner
The Danger Within Us: America's Untested, Unregulated Medical Device Industry and One Man's Battle to Survive It by Jeanne Lenzer
Bad Blood: Secrets and Lies in a Silicon Valley Startup by John Carreyrou

My statistics:
Book 141 for 2025
Book 2067 cumulatively

[Claire · Rating 5 out of 5]

Many wtf moments. Hugely compelling. If you loved Empire of Pain this is for you. Crikey. Anticipate this being the best non-fic I read this year.

[Kristine · Rating 5 out of 5]

I would say that there were Lots of Tears due to Johnson and Johnson’s greed and unwillingness to either pull products or change them. I was aware of the Talc Issue in their Baby Powder, but do remember hearing repeatedly that J&J’s product did not contain any asbestos. That they were aware it did for decades and did nothing is what is so frightening. It seems many women went on to develop Ovarian Cancer. The Baby Powder was a top seller and that is what mattered. For a long time they knew they could switch to Cornstarch, but chose not to, afraid if they did customers might wonder why. Then the author highlights many other OTC Products, Prescription Drugs being used off-label to the detriment of the person taking them, and Pharmaceutical Equipment, like the Vaginal Mesh that destroyed many women’s lives. Often when they were aware of a problem, and had better ones to use, they did not purely due to wish Equipment made them more money.

The book is thoroughly researched. It shed light on Johnson & Johnson doing some really egregious things. The Government and the FDA often look the other way with powerful companies. Many in the FDA had previously worked for Pharmaceutical Companies. They often have doctors on their payroll, so that seems an obvious major conflict of interest. The Author’s conclusion that letting major companies who are marketing products for profit should not be allowed to self-police themselves. That the FDA or any governmental group doesn’t do its job and look out for consumers is quite frightening. Sadly, in the next few years, I don’t think we will be seeing more oversight of companies. This means people will die or be severely harmed.

Gives me chills thinking about this and that every product you buy or ingest, it’s on you to research the actual effectiveness. Often, that is not even possible since many companies do this and have not released documents showing the product might be harmful. It seems it takes years or decades for things to actually change. In the USA, we really need to demand much better oversight.

[laurel [the suspected bibliophile] · Rating 5 out of 5]

Okay, so we all know how Purdue sucks donkey dick, right?

GUESS WHO THEY WERE COPYING AND PASTING FROM

GUESS GUESS GUESS GUESS GUESS

That's right! THESE motherfuckers aka Johnson & Johnson

Anywho, moral of this particular story is: government oversight needs checks and balances, and companies who buy a little too hard into their own brand of goodness need to probably take a step back every so often and go, "do my actions actually align with my supposedly higher-than-thou ethics or am I just a capitalistic fuckhead?"