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'Unfair Process': Philippa Roxby, BBC Health Reporter

J&J was ordered to pay $4.69 billion in damages to 22 women who alleged that regular use of J&J's talcum powder products caused them to develop ovarian cancer. The women claimed J&J knew its talc was contaminated with asbestos since the 1970s but failed to warn consumers of the risks. J&J denied its products ever contained asbestos and said several studies have shown talc to be safe. The evidence linking talc to ovarian cancer is mixed, with some studies finding a link and others not, and the risk increase would be small even if a link does exist.

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51 views2 pages

'Unfair Process': Philippa Roxby, BBC Health Reporter

J&J was ordered to pay $4.69 billion in damages to 22 women who alleged that regular use of J&J's talcum powder products caused them to develop ovarian cancer. The women claimed J&J knew its talc was contaminated with asbestos since the 1970s but failed to warn consumers of the risks. J&J denied its products ever contained asbestos and said several studies have shown talc to be safe. The evidence linking talc to ovarian cancer is mixed, with some studies finding a link and others not, and the risk increase would be small even if a link does exist.

Uploaded by

Ashutosh Singh
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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AThe verdict comes as the pharmaceutical giant battles some 9,000 legal

cases involving its signature baby powder.


J&J said it was "deeply disappointed" and plans to appeal.
In the six-week trial, the women and their families said they developed ovarian
cancer after using baby powder and other talc products for decades.
Of the 22 women represented in this case, six have died from ovarian cancer.
Their lawyers alleged the company knew its talc was contaminated with
asbestos since the 1970s but failed to warn consumers about the risks.

'Unfair process'
Talc is a mineral and can sometimes be found in the ground in close proximity
to asbestos.
J&J denied that its products ever contained asbestos and insisted that they do
not cause cancer.
The pharmaceutical giant added that several studies have shown its talc to be
safe and said the verdict was a product of a "fundamentally unfair process".
The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) commissioned a study of a
variety of talc samples, including J&J, from 2009 to 2010. It found no asbestos
in any of them.
The prosecution lawyer told the Missouri court that the FDA and Johnson &
Johnson had used flawed testing methods.

Analysis:
Philippa Roxby, BBC health reporter

Is talc safe?
There have been concerns for years that using talcum powder, particularly on
the genitals, may increase the risk of ovarian cancer - but the evidence is not
conclusive. The International Agency for Research on Cancer classifies
talc used on the genitals as "possibly carcinogenic" because of the mixed
evidence.

Why is there any debate?


The mineral talc in its natural form does contain asbestos and does cause
cancer, however, asbestos-free talc has been used in baby powder and other
cosmetics since the 1970s. But the studies on asbestos-free talc give
contradictory results.
It has been linked to a cancer risk in some studies, but there are concerns
that the research may be biased as they often rely on people remembering
how much talc they used years ago. Other studies have argued there is no
link at all and there is no link between talc in contraceptives such as
diaphragms and condoms (which would be close to the ovaries) and cancer.
Also there does not seem to be a "dose-response" for talc, unlike carcinogens
like tobacco for example, where the more you smoke, the greater the risk of
lung cancer.

What should women do?


The charity Ovacome says the evidence for a link is weak but even if talc
does increase the risk of ovarian cancer, studies suggest it would be only by
around a third. It stresses this is a small increase in risk and, because ovarian
cancer is a relatively rare disease, the increase in risk is small too.
Also, ovarian cancer risk is affected by many different factors - inherited and

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