There have been numerous amounts of women and families filing complaints in regards to Johnson & Johnson Baby Powder throughout the U.S. These complaints and allegations are on the basis that the company failed to warn consumers about the risks associated with using talc-based powders and other products. These allegations have led to a multi-district litigation case.
Talc is a possible carcinogen that when dusted on the genital area, may cause it to reach the ovaries and lead to ovarian cancer. Studies have found that pre-menopausal women were prone to be up to 3 times more likely to develop ovarian cancer after using powders or feminine hygiene products containing talc.
After the allegations of their talc powder containing possible carcinogens, J&J started marketing their products towards key markets of longtime users that included African-American women and overweight women. They thought that by targeting underdeveloped geographical markets with hot weather and a higher African-American population, they would bypass the allegations and sell more Baby Powder due to more frequent usage and lack of knowledge.
There have been many findings that include internal information from J&J about their knowledge of the potential risk of their baby powder and Shower-to-Shower products but fail to take action because of their belief of the risk being too low to justify warnings to consumers or to take the product off the market. Even after thousands of lawsuits being filed for over a decade, talc mining companies and J&J continue to argue that the connection between talc powder and ovarian cancer has insufficient evidence to prove cause.
Talcum Powder lawsuits are currently considered an active multi-district litigation that has been formed in the District of New Jersey. The litigation is ongoing and currently includes lawsuits brought by more than 13,000 different plaintiffs and is continuing to grow. All cases are raising similar concern that consists of failure by the companies to warn their consumers about serious health risks linked to ovarian cancer and mesothelioma.
According to News.Law, the latest J&J talcum powder case was awarded $12M by a California Jury to a 61-year old woman for claiming that the talcum powder products caused her to develop mesothelioma. Most talcum powder cases have been alleging that the powder causes ovarian cancer in women, however, recently there have been more cases alleging mesothelioma, which is a much rarer disease.