And they keep coming: Johnson & Johnson is facing about 1,200 lawsuits accusing the company of ignoring studies that link Johnson’s Baby Powder and Shower-to-Shower to ovarian cancer.
The complainants argue in the state and federal courts that the company knew the risk, yet failed to warn its customers.
Just this week, a U.S. jury ordered J&J to pay $55 million to South Dakota-based Gloria Ristesund, who claimed that the use of the talc powder for feminine hygiene resulted in the development of ovarian cancer. After a three-week trial, jurors decided to award Ristesund $5 million in compensatory damages as well as $50 million in punitive damages.
This marked J&J’s second loss this year, as it was also told in the same St. Louis courthouse in February to pay $72 million to the family of 62-year-old Jackie Fox, who died of the same disease.
About 1,000 of the pending talcum-powder related suits are in St. Louis, while another 200 are filed in New Jersey, according to Jim Onder, who serves as attorney for the plaintiffs in the two recent cases. Onder argued that the New-Jersey based J&J had knowledge of talcum powder dangers for more than 30 years.
“Instead of giving a warning, what they did was targeted the groups most at risk for developing ovarian cancer,” he said, pertaining to overweight women, Hispanics, and blacks.
The debate is heating up: some studies suggest that women regularly using talc face up to a 40 percent greater risk of getting ovarian cancer, while J&J presents medical proof that its Johnson’s Baby Powder and Shower-to-Shower are faultless.
The jury’s decision, argued J&J spokesperson Carol Goodrich, contradicts three decades of medical studies worldwide that “continue to support the safety of cosmetic talc.”
The American Cancer Society pinpointed two aspects of the concern: whether individuals exposed long-term to natural talc fibers have a greater lung cancer risk, or whether women applying talc in their genital area regularly have a higher ovarian cancer risk.
Talc – a naturally occurring substance from the soil and made up of magnesium, silicon, oxygen as well as hydrogen – is widely used in talcum powder and other personal care products to absorb moisture and improve the cosmetic product’s feel and anti-caking quality.
Carl Tobias, an expert in product-liability law, said more losses in court will add to the growing distrust of one of J&J’s most iconic products.
“There are both economic and reputational issues that may motivate them to start thinking about a global settlement of these cases,” he said in a Bloomberg report, recommending the company to consider mounting a settlement program to address the talc cases.
Thousands of women and their family members flocked to the plaintiffs’ lawyers after the Fox verdict came out, Jere Beasley, a lawyer, said in March. He reported that his firm, which is one of different firms representing Ristesund and the Fox family, is now reviewing more than 5,000 potential claims.
In 2013, the jury in a federal court in South Dakota found J&J negligent in a related case, yet did not award damages to the plaintiff. J&J is facing another talc case in St. Louis this September.
Photo: Austin Kirk | Flickr
