Brendan’s Alternate Tagline for No More Tears:
Actually, lots of tears it turns out.
Quick synopsis:
The story of how Johnson & Johnson’s squeaky-clean image is a lie.
Fact for Non-History People:
There are over 67,000 cases pending against J&J.
Fact for History Nerds:
A verdict against them from 2019 was for $2.1 billion but has since been reduced.
My Take on No More Tears:
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.)
Verdict:
Enraging and a must read. Buy it here!
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