Johnson & Johnson loses talcum powder lawsuit

After Jacqueline Fox, from Birmingham, Alabama, was diagnosed with ovarian cancer, she claimed that using talc-based products, such as the popular line by Johnsons & Johnsons, led to her developing the illness, from which she passed away previous year.

The first case to go to trial among some 1,200 claims now faced by Johnson & Johnson alleging a link between its talc-containing products and cancer obviously did not turn out the way the pharmaceutical giant would have wished. Johnson & Johnson, based in New Brunswick, N.J., is expected to appeal the verdict.

Carol Goodrich, a spokeswoman, said Johnson & Johnson were disappointed with the outcome of the trial.

This is the first verdict in over 1,000 national cases linked to these products. “How can a company have known about this relationship between talc and ovarian cancer since the 1970s and not disclosed it?” Some scientists have suggested talc particles may travel to the ovaries, triggering a process of inflammation that allows cancer cells to flourish, but there is little evidence to support the hypothesis.

The company in 2011 vowed to remove “chemicals of concern” from its baby products, the AP news agency reported.

J&J officials “will not change their behaviour until good people like you act”, Allen Smith, one of the family’s attorneys, told the St. Louis jury in closing arguments on Monday.

A jury in St Louis awarded the damages, and its foreman said she believed the company was “hiding something”. Several more trials are expected later this year. Fox’s family claimed that the victim used the company’s products for more or less 35 years.

Johnson & Johnson was found liable for fraud, negligence and conspiracy by a 10-2 vote by the jury, according to the family’s lawyers Tuesday. It’s widely used in cosmetics and personal care products, such as talcum powder, to absorb moisture, prevent caking and improve the product’s feel.

The case is Hogans et al vs Johnson & Johnson et al, Circuit Court of the City of St Louis, Missouri, No 1422-CC09012.

A man has been arrested on suspicion of killing a year-old girl who was shot as she slept in a crib in a Compton, California, home.

According to the Telegraph, most talcum powder manufacturers switched to using cornstarch rather than talc after the American Cancer Society advocated for women to switch to cornstarch around the genital area in 1999.

Gene Williams contended on behalf of the drug-maker that the cause of the cancer was unknown.