How safe is your baby powder?
$72M award in cancer-link lawsuit
JOHNSON & JOHNSON has been ordered to pay a whopping $72 million to the family of a woman who died from ovarian cancer that her lawyers argued was linked to her use of the company’s talc powder.
The Missouri jury verdict late Monday handed the payout to the family of Jacqueline Fox. The jury found that the cosmetics giant was “lying to the public” and “lying to the regulatory agencies” about product safety, said lawyer Jere Beasley.
Fox, who died in October at age 62, used Johnson’s Baby Powder and Shower to Shower for more than 35 years.
At trial, Fox’s attorneys introduced a 1997 internal memo from a Johnson & Johnson medical consultant suggesting that “anybody who denies (the) risks” between “hygenic” talc use and ovarian cancer will be publicly perceived in the same light as those who denied a link between smoking cigarettes and cancer: “Denying the obvious in the face of all evidence to the contrary.”
The jury deliberated just four hours after a three-week trial, finding Johnson & Johnson liable for fraud, negligence and conspiracy.
The $72 million payout represents $10 million in actual damages and $62 million in punitive damages.
Johnson & Johnson is considering an appeal.
The ruling is the first payout of its kind ordered against Johnson & Johnson, though a federal jury in South Dakota found in 2013 that the company’s powder was linked to ovarian cancer.
No damages were awarded at that time, but Johnson & Johnson is still facing hundreds of similar lawsuits alleging that it failed to warn consumers of a possible cancer link from talc-based products, said Beasley.
Such a link, however, is un- clear. Many studies have found no link between ovarian cancer and talc, which is a naturally occurring substance composed of magnesium, silicon, oxygen and hydrogen.
It’s widely used in cosmetics and personal care products, such as talcum powder, to absorb moisture and prevent caking.
“We are disappointed with the outcome of the trial,” Johnson & Johnson said in a statement, adding, “We sympathize with the plaintiff’s family but firmly believe the safety of cosmetic talc is supported by decades of scientific evidence.”