by RICHARD SMALLTEACHER
PHOTO/Hand on the Law
Johnson & Johnson has been sued by over 1,200 women who blame the company’s talcum powder products for their ovarian cancer. Not only are U.S. courts beginning to agree with them, juries have started to award victims millions of dollars in compensation.
Talcum powder, a popular moisture absorbing product, is made from talc, the popular name for hydrated magnesium silicate which occurs naturally as a mineral in formations like soapstone. For over 120 years, Johnson & Johnson has marketed talcum powder around the world as a baby powder and for adults to absorb sweat in products like Shower to Shower.
The company has long targeted women to increase sales. “Want to feel cool, smooth and dry? It’s as easy as taking powder from a baby,” was the text in a common Johnson & Johnson ad from the 1960s.
In the 1970s, the first studies emerged showing that talc was deeply embedded into ovarian cancers. Johnson & Johnson introduced corn starch alternatives but it continued to offer talc-based products. In 2014 Johnson & Johnson’s annual talcum powder sales were estimated at $374 million.
In 2007 Deane Berg, an ovarian cancer victim, hired a law firm named Beasley Allen, to sue the company. Johnson & Johnson offered Berg $1.3 million to settle out of court but she was determined to prove her case. In 2013, a North Dakota court ruled in her favor, resulting in 17,000 new claims for Beasley Allen.
A key witness in Berg’s trial was Daniel Cramer of Harvard University who has conducted research into talc and baby powder since the 1980s. He estimates that talc contributes to 10,000 cases of ovarian cancer a year in the U.S.
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