Johnson & Johnson ordered to pay $108 million in US talcum powder cancer case

An American jury has awarded more than NZ$100 million in damages to the family of a woman who died from ovarian cancer and blamed it on Johnson & Johnson talcum powder.

The verdict comes despite some researchers saying there is insufficient evidence to prove the link between using talcum powder and ovarian cancer.

The woman, Jacqueline Fox passed away last year, but her voice recently came alive in a St. Louis courtroom.

In an audio deposition, the Birmingham, Alabama, native who died at 62 recounted 35 years of using Johnson & Johnson products containing talcum powder, from the pharmaceutical giant's trademark baby powder to its shower-to-shower body powder. Fox had used them for "feminine hygiene" - applying them in her genital area. 

More than three years ago, she was diagnosed with an ovarian cancer that proved fatal.

Fox then joined more than 1200 women from across the country suing Johnson & Johnson for failing to warn consumers of the dangers associated with talc, the mineral used in baby powder.

On Monday, her case became the first in which monetary compensation was awarded.

A Missouri jury ordered Johnson & Johnson to pay Fox's family about US$72 million (NZ$108 million) in actual and punitive damages. One of Fox's lead attorneys, Jim Onder, told the St Louis Post-Dispatch that US$31 million will go to the Missouri Crime Victim Compensation Fund.

The suit's other defendant, talc producer Imerys Talc America, has not been faulted.

"We have no higher responsibility than the health and safety of consumers and we are disappointed with the outcome of the trial," Johnson & Johnson said in a statement Tuesday. "We sympathise with the plaintiff's family but firmly believe the safety the cosmetic talc is supported by decades of scientific evidence."

Johnson & Johnson is expected to appeal the verdict. The award - which is comprised of US$10 million in compensatory damages and US$62 million in punitive damages - will likely be lessened in appellate courts, Stanford law professor Nora Freeman Engstrom told the Associated Press.

American researchers have found a link between frequent use of talcum powder "for intimate personal hygiene" and ovarian cancer.

The results, published in the journal Cancer Prevention Research, showed regularly applying the powder particles after bathing or showering raised the risk of an ovarian tumour by 24 per cent.

Scientists warned powder particles applied to the genital area can travel into a woman's body and trigger inflammation, which allows cancer cells to flourish.

However, cancer organisations in Australia and the United States both said past studies had "mixed findings".

The Cancer Council of New South Wales said there was "insufficient evidence" to conclude the use of talcum powder can cause ovarian cancer.

"Asbestos free talc, such as that found in modern talcum powder has been suggested to increase the risk of ovarian cancer in women who apply talcum powder regularly in the genital area," the council states.

"Several studies in women have looked at the possible link between talcum powder and ovarian cancer, with mixed findings. Some studies report a slightly increased risk, while others have found no increase."

The American Cancer Society said case-control studies had found "a small increase in risk".

"But these types of studies can be biased because they often rely on a person's memory of talc use many years earlier. Two prospective cohort studies, which would not have the same type of potential bias, have not found an increased risk."

According to the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, one male juror and nine female jurors voted in Fox's favor; two men voted against her.

One juror, 50-year-old Jerome Kendrick, told the Post-Dispatch that he was swayed by internal company memos presented at trial.

"They tried to cover up and influence the boards that regulate cosmetics," he said, adding "They could have at least put a warning label on the box but they didn't. They did nothing."

One memo from a company medical consultant likened ignoring the risks associated with "hygienic" talc use and ovarian cancer to denying the link between smoking cigarettes and cancer - in other words, "denying the obvious in the face of all evidence to the contrary," the Associated Press reported.

Another document noted that sales were declining as more people became aware of the health risks, and included strategies for making blacks and Hispanics the highest users of talcum powder, Onder said, as the Post-Dispatch reported. Fox was African American.

The New Jersey-based company faces many more lawsuits related to talcum products it has made household names.

Marvin Salter, Fox's son, told the AP that using Johnson & Johnson "became second nature, like brushing your teeth."

But a routine act eventually became insidious, Fox's lawyers argued.

A pathologist found that Fox's ovaries were inflamed from talc, which then turned into cancer.

     

Author: 
Stuff.co