(AP/KMJ) A St. Louis jury has awarded a California woman more than $70 million in her lawsuit alleging that years of using Johnson & Johnson’s baby powder caused her cancer, the latest case raising concerns about the health ramifications of extended talcum powder use.
The jury ruling Thursday ended the trial that began Sept. 26 in the case brought by Deborah Giannecchini of Modesto, California. She was diagnosed with ovarian cancer in 2012. The suit accused Johnson & Johnson of “negligent conduct” in making and marketing its baby powder.
Earlier this year, two other lawsuits in St. Louis ended in jury verdicts worth a combined $127 million, but two others in New Jersey were thrown out by a judge who said there wasn’t reliable evidence that talc leads to ovarian cancer.
So does baby powder really cause cancer? Here’s what the experts say:
The National Cancer Institute says there’s not a clear connection.
The International Agency for Research on Cancer classifies genital use of talcum-based body powder as “possibly carcinogenic to humans.”
The American Cancer Society says more research is needed.
JOHNSON & JOHNSON STATEMENT: Johnson & Johnson will begin the appeals process after a jury in the Judicial Circuit Court for the City of St. Louis in Missouri returned a verdict in favor of the plaintiff in a trial involving cosmetic talc. Statement from Carol Goodrich, spokesperson for Johnson & Johnson Consumer Inc.:
“We deeply sympathize with the women and families impacted by ovarian cancer. We will appeal today’s verdict because we are guided by the science, which supports the safety of Johnson’s Baby Powder. In fact, two cases pending in New Jersey were dismissed in September 2016 by a state court judge who ruled that plaintiffs’ scientific experts could not adequately support their theories that talcum powder causes ovarian cancer, a decision that highlights the lack of credible scientific evidence behind plaintiffs’ allegations.”
