US court ordered Johnson & Johnson to pay $110m in talc powder cancer case
A US court ordered to the pharmaceutical firm Johnson & Johnson (J&J) to pay over $110m (£85m) to a woman who says she developed ovarian cancer after using its talcum powder.
The verdict included $5.4m in compensatory damages and $105m in punitive damages against J&J.
“Once again we’ve shown that these companies ignored the scientific evidence and continue to deny their responsibilities to the women of America,” said Ted Meadows, a lawyer for Lois Slemp.
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J&J was sued by Lois Slemp, 62, from Virginia, Missouri, who said she developed the cancer after four decades of using talc-based products for feminine hygiene.
While experts say links with ovarian cancer are unproven, prosecutors argued the company did not adequately warn about the cancer risks associated with the items.
The verdict, by a jury in state court in St. Louis, arose out of around 2,400 lawsuits accusing the company of not adequately warning consumers about the cancer risks of talc-based products including its well-known Baby Powder, Reuters news agency reports.
In reply, J&J says it will appeal. “We are preparing for additional trials this year and we continue to defend the safety of Johnson’s Baby Powder,” it said in a statement.
“We deeply sympathise with the women and families impacted by ovarian cancer.”
Lois Slemp is currently undergoing chemotherapy after her ovarian cancer initially diagnosed in 2012 returned and spread to her liver.
She said the products she used included J&J’s Baby Powder and Shower to Shower Powder, BBC reports.
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J&J lost three jury verdicts last year in cases related to its talc-based products, but won its first trial in March, when a jury in Missouri sided with the company.
Over time, there have been concerns for years that using talcum powder, particularly on the genitals, may increase the risk of ovarian cancer.
The International Agency for Research on Cancer classifies talc used on the genitals as “possibly carcinogenic” because of the mixed evidence.
In its natural form, the mineral talc contains asbestos and causes cancer, but, since the 1970s, has been used asbestos-free talc in baby powder and other cosmetics. Still, the studies on asbestos-free talc give contradictory results. Thus, while it has been linked to a cancer risk in some of them, there are concerns that the research may be unfairly as they often rely on people remembering how much talc they used years ago.
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