FBI investigating Johnson and Johnson device that may spread uterine cancer

SAN FRANCISCO -- The FBI is investigating Johnson and Johnson, one of America's largest pharmaceutical companies, and a surgical instrument it makes known as the power morcellator.

The feds want to know if Johnson and Johnson kept selling the device after it was discovered it could spread a type of cancer.

The power morcellator is a surgical device used to remove uterine growths. It is he device is used most in hysterectomies.

An FBI investigation finds it can spread cancer in women.

The morcellator breaks up growths in the uterus with spinning blades, but investigators say in some women where there's an undetected cancer, it can spray cancer cells within the uterus.

Boston doctor Amy Reed and her husband say she was harmed by the device. They want morellators banned.

"At no point in time did anyone ever say, well you know because you had it morcellated, that worsens your prognosis. That's something we discovered on our own," explained Reed.

"If you disrupt the mass it's like a bee's hive. If you start chopping it up the bees spread and you're in trouble," said Hooman Noorchashm, Reed's husband.

The FBI probe finds Johnson and Johnson was first alerted to the risks back in 2006. The company voluntarily pulled the device last July.

Last year the FDA issued its most serious black box warning about the morcellator.