Hey there, it's Shemita here. I am now out on parental leave, and Sam Sanders, the award-winning podcast and radio host, will be taking over the host chair for a bit while I'm gone. You'll hear him starting next week. But in the meantime, here's an episode from our archives that really stuck with me. It's a massive investigation that exposes a lot about health care, government oversight, and accountability in America.

I hope you enjoy it.

This is In Conversation from Apple News.

I'm Shmita Basu. Today, the dark secrets of Johnson and Johnson.

From the start of your life, it's been a part of your life, a special... This is a 1976 ad for Johnson's Baby Power.

It's a feeling. You're never a pro. Johnson's Baby Powder. For more than a century,

you never a pro.

Johnson's Baby Powder is a feeling you never upro.

For more than a century,

the J&J brand has billed itself

as one of the most trusted companies

in American history,

and Baby Powder was its most iconic product.

The scent of baby powder is the most recognized fragrance on the planet.

That's investigative journalist Gardner Harris.

It's this extraordinary branding tool because, of course, when you're a baby and you smell this smell,

it's delivered to you by your mother, the most important person in your life.

So from infancy, you associate this smell with love and trust.

And so it's this branding tool that was a shield for Johnson and Johnson forever.

As it would turn out, J&J's talc-based baby powder was contaminated with asbestos, a dangerous

mineral that can cause cancer. And that wasn't the only product at the company found to have

major issues. Gardner has covered public health

...