Johnson & Johnson has been ordered to pay $55 million in compensatory and punitive damages to a woman who claimed that the use of the company’s talcum powder products around her genital areas contributed to her developing ovarian cancer. The ruling comes just months after another jury in Missouri awarded a plaintiff’s family $72 million in a lawsuit which alleged that the woman died from ovarian cancer after years of using talcum powder.
The company is facing more than one thousand lawsuits which allege that the use of talcum powder around the female genital area has caused or contributed to the development of ovarian cancer. Plaintiff’s attorneys claim that Johnson & Johnson internal documents reveal that the company was fully aware of the link between talcum powder and ovarian cancer, but failed to warn consumers.
Scientists have reported a possible connection between the use of talcum powder around the female genital area and ovarian cancer since the 1970’s. The earlier research on the subject suggested that talc particles entered a woman’s reproductive system through the vaginal opening, migrating into the cervix and the uterus, and moving through the fallopian tubes to the ovaries.
In 1982, Daniel Cramer, a Harvard University professor and doctor at Boston’s Brigham and Women’s Hospital, published a study which claimed that women who reported the use of talc around the genital area were three times as likely to develop ovarian cancer. A more recent analysis combining 16 different studies also identified a significant increase in risk for ovarian cancer occurrence among regular talcum powder users.
The Law Offices of Peter Angelos is reviewing claims that talcum powder–including Baby Powder and Shower to Shower–has contributed to the development of ovarian cancer. If you or a loved one has been diagnosed with ovarian cancer, and previously used talcum powder on or near genital areas, contact our lawyers for a no cost consultation.