Congressman questions if Johnson & Johnson tried to avoid recall

Months after Johnson & Johnson's April recall of 135 million bottles of infant and children's medicines, a congressman today is asking if the company knew about problems earlier and tried to avoid public disclosure by discussing a "phantom recall" of some of the same over-the-counter medications.

U.S. Rep. Edolphus "Ed" Towns, D-N.Y., chairman of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, in announcing a new hearing of his committee into Johnson & Johnson's tactics to be held Sept. 30, cited evidence gathered by his committee since its first hearing earlier this year as the reason.

One part of the evidence: An e-mail note suggesting the company considered a phantom recall of some over the counter medicines months before initiating the full recall.