Preview Newsletter
Cosmetic Talc Litigation Media Coverage September 27, 2016
-
Research Finds Talc Doesn't Cause Cancer; Juries Disagree
Sep 26, 2016 | AP (In The New York Times)
By Linda A. Johnson
Two lawsuits ended in jury verdicts worth $127 million. Two others were tossed out by a judge who said there wasn't reliable evidence that the talc in Johnson & Johnson's iconic baby powder causes ovarian cancer. So who's right? And is baby powder safe? -
Johnson and Johnson Faces More Baby Powder Cancer Lawsuits
Sep 26, 2016 | CBS St. Louis
By Kevin Killeen
Johnson and Johnson prepares to battle with another woman claiming its talcum Baby Powder caused her ovarian cancer – a case that threatens a domino effect of multi-million dollar verdicts against the healthcare giant. -
More baby powder cancer lawsuits cause headache for Johnson & Johnson
Sep 27, 2016 | The Vanguard
By Cameron McQualter
After settling with two cases on similar allegations, Johnson & Johnson is yet again faced with another lawsuit involving its baby powder being linked to cancer. -
Another talcum powder lawsuit in St. Louis this week
Sep 26, 2016 | Fox 2 Now
Another lawsuit alleging that a woman’s use of talcum powder caused cancer is this week in St. Louis.
US Coverage
-
Research Finds Talc Doesn't Cause Cancer; Juries Disagree
Sep 26, 2016 | AP (In The New York Times)
By Linda A. Johnson
TRENTON, N.J. — Two lawsuits ended in jury verdicts worth $127 million. Two others were tossed out by a judge who said there wasn't reliable evidence that the talc in Johnson & Johnson's iconic baby powder causes ovarian cancer. So who's right? And is baby powder safe?
Most research finds no link or a weak one between ovarian cancer and using baby powder for feminine hygiene, a practice generations of American mothers have passed on to their daughters. Most major health groups have declared talc harmless. Johnson & Johnson, whose baby powder dominates the market, says it's perfectly safe.
Yet some 2,000 women have sued, and lawyers are reviewing thousands of other potential cases, most generated by ads touting the two big verdicts. Meanwhile, jury selection in the next trial began Monday.
A look at the issue:
WHAT IS TALC?
Talc is a mineral that is mined from deposits around the world, including the U.S. The softest of minerals, it's crushed into a white powder. It's been widely used in cosmetics and other personal care products to absorb moisture since at least 1894, when Johnson & Johnson's Baby Powder was launched. But it's mainly used in a variety of other products, including paint and plastics.
DOES IT CAUSE OVARIAN CANCER?
Like many questions in science, there's no definitive answer. Finding the cause of cancer is difficult. It would be unethical to do the best kind of study, asking a group of women to use talcum powder on their genitals and wait to see if it causes cancer, while comparing them to a group who didn't use it.
While ovarian cancer is often fatal, it's relatively rare. It accounts for only about 22,000 of the 1.7 million new cases of cancer expected to be diagnosed in the United States this year.
Factors that are known to increase a women's risk of ovarian cancer include age, obesity, use of estrogen therapy after menopause, not having any children, certain genetic mutations and personal or family history of breast or ovarian cancer.
WHAT RESEARCH CAN BE DONE
Two other kinds of research are possible. Neither of them, though, can conclusively prove something causes cancer. One looks back in time, after an illness has occurred. It compares two groups of people, one with the illness, one without, and asks about past exposures that might be factors. But people have trouble remembering details years later.
The second approach follows a large group of people. It assesses their health at the start and follows them for years, recording any illnesses while tracking possible influences such as diet and use of medication, alcohol or other substances. Scientists generally find these "prospective" studies most reliable.
WHAT RESEARCH SHOWS
The biggest prospective studies have found no link between talcum powder applied to the genitals and ovarian cancer. But about two dozen smaller, look-back studies over three decades have mostly found a modest connection — a 20 percent to 40 percent increased risk among talc users.
However, that doesn't mean talc causes cancer. Several factors make that unlikely and there's no proof talc, which doesn't interact with chemicals or cells, can travel up the reproductive tract, enter the ovaries and then trigger cancer.
One large study published in June that followed 51,000 sisters of breast cancer patients found genital talc users had a reduced risk of ovarian cancer, 27 percent lower than in nonusers. An analysis of two huge, long-running U.S. studies, the Women's Health Initiative and the Nurses' Health Study, showed no increased risk of ovarian cancer in talc users.
WHAT EXPERTS SAY
If there were a true link, Dr. Hal C. Lawrence III says large studies that tracked women's health for years would have verified results of the smaller look-back ones.
"Lord knows, with the amount of powder that's been applied to babies' bottoms, we would've seen something" if talc caused cancer, said Lawrence, vice president of the American College of Obstetrics and Gynecology.
The National Cancer Institute's Dr. Nicolas Wentzensen says the federal agency's position is that there's not a clear connection.
"It is very hard to establish causal relationships," he said, adding, "A lot of ovarian cancers occur in women who have never used talc, and many women have used talc and not gotten ovarian cancer."
Research director Elizabeth Ward of the American Cancer Society says it is unusual to have so much discrepancy between studies. "The risk for any individual woman, if there is one, is probably very small," Ward said.
WHAT LAWYERS AND COURTS SAY
Like the studies, courts have produced mixed results.
In the first trial two years ago, a South Dakota jury found Johnson & Johnson liable for one woman's ovarian cancer but didn't award any damages. This year, state court juries in St. Louis awarded plaintiffs $72 million and $55 million — verdicts the company is appealing.
But U.S. District Judge Nelson Johnson in Atlantic City threw out the first two of the 400 lawsuits in his court. He reviewed the research and testimony from two doctors who are the plaintiffs' key expert witnesses and concluded the two aren't reliable, noting they had previously written that there was no proof talc causes ovarian cancer. Other courts approved them as experts, noted the plaintiffs' attorney, Ted Meadows of Montgomery, Alabama.
J&J attorney John Beisner says the health care giant plans to fight every lawsuit, rather than settle, "for the fundamental reason that the science on which they're based is totally lacking."
Most of the pending cases are in Missouri, California and New Jersey, where J&J is based.
In the case that began Monday in St. Louis, lawyers for Deborah Giannecchini of Modesto, California, say she was diagnosed with ovarian cancer in 2012 after years of talcum use. Her lawsuit accuses the company of "negligent conduct" in making and marketing its talc.
http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/2016/09/26/us/ap-us-baby-powder-cancer-explainer.html?_r=0
-
Johnson and Johnson Faces More Baby Powder Cancer Lawsuits
Sep 26, 2016 | CBS St. Louis
By Kevin Killeen
ST. LOUIS (KMOX) – Johnson and Johnson prepares to battle with another woman claiming its talcum Baby Powder caused her ovarian cancer – a case that threatens a domino effect of multi-million dollar verdicts against the healthcare giant.
Already two juries here have hit Johnson and Johnson hard for it’s talcum powder — awarding $72 million to one cancer plaintiff and $55 million to another. Johnson and Johnson is appealing the awards, but the legal challenge facing the company is formidable
Some 1,800 cases have been filed here against Johnson and Johnson for its talcum powder, according to the Onder Law Firm – which claims to have a total of 3,500 talcum powder clients.
Johnson and Johnson attorney John Beisner will argue that there is no scientific link between talc and cancer. The company, at this point, plans to fight each case individually, hoping to convince juries that the science behind the allegations is “totally lacking.”
In a statement, Johnson and Johnson says a judge in New Jersey recently tossed out two Baby Powder cancer lawsuits for lack of scientific evidence.
But if Johnson and Johnson loses a third case here — with another multi-million dollar judgement — it could put more pressure on the company to offer a settlements.
This latest case here was filed by a woman from Modesto, California. Deborah Giannecchini will testify she was diagnosed with ovarian cancer in 2012, after using Johnson and Johnson talcum powder for years.
“Ovarian cancer is obviously a very deadly disease, a very painful and tortuous death unfortunately,” said her attorney Jim Onder. “It’s sad that these women have to needlessly suffer like this, simply because Johnson and Johnson wasn’t willing to put a warning on the label.”
Onder will argue the company knew about the possible risks, but never told consumers.
“It’s one of these things that make you angry,” Onder said, “I mean, had you just known, you could have made an informed decision, and it’s not right for Johnson and Johnson and others to have deprived women of that opportunity.”
The two-week trial is expected to delve into company documents.
“The internal documents show that as the medical community became aware that talc causes cancer, they (Johnson and Johnson) began target-marketing to blacks and hispanics, the two groups they knew were at risk and who were the the highest user rates,” Onder said.
Jury selection is expected to last through Wednesday with opening arguments possible Thursday morning.
Johnson and Johnson released a statement on the case:
“We recognize that women and families affected by ovarian cancer are searching for answers, and we deeply sympathize with everyone affected by this devastating disease. We are defending the safety of Johnson’s Baby Powder because science, research, clinical evidence and decades of studies by medical experts around the world continue to support the safety of cosmetic talc.
Among the many studies that have confirmed the safety of talcum powder use, two widely-accepted, forward-looking, prospective cohort studies that included more than 130,000 women and were run over a long period of time – the Nurses’ Health Study by the Harvard School of Public Health published in 2000 and 2010 and the Women’s Health Initiative Observational Cohort by the U.S. National Institutes of Health published in 2014 – found no association between talc use for feminine hygiene and ovarian cancer. Another forward-looking, prospective cohort study, The Sister Study, published just this year by researchers from the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences, involved 50,884 women in the US and Puerto Rico and likewise found no association between talc use and ovarian cancer. In addition, no governmental or non-governmental authority has concluded that talc causes ovarian cancer.
Three previous cosmetic talc cases against Johnson & Johnson Consumer Inc. have gone to trial. In October 2013, a jury in Sioux Falls, SD declined to award damages to the plaintiff. In February 2016 and May 2016, juries in St. Louis granted verdicts in favor of the plaintiffs, going against decades of sound science and expert reviews on the safety of talc as a cosmetic ingredient. The company is appealing those verdicts.
A judge in New Jersey (United States) recently dismissed two cases that were set for trial in that state after finding that the plaintiffs’ experts who alleged Johnson’s Baby Powder caused ovarian cancer could not adequately support their theories, a decision that highlights the lack of scientific evidence behind plaintiffs’ allegations. The ruling was made after a two-week hearing specifically held to determine the sufficiency of the scientific evidence at the core of this litigation. The speculative theories put forward by plaintiffs in New Jersey are the same ones being used in all of the cases that have been filed around the United States.”
http://stlouis.cbslocal.com/2016/09/26/johnson-and-johnson-faces-more-baby-powder-cancer-lawsuits/
-
More baby powder cancer lawsuits cause headache for Johnson & Johnson
Sep 27, 2016 | The Vanguard
By Cameron McQualter
After settling with two cases on similar allegations, Johnson & Johnson is yet again faced with another lawsuit involving its baby powder being linked to cancer.
The company has just settled with one cancer patient for the amount of $72 million, and $55 million with another — but it looks like the talc powder drama for the company is still far from over.
A woman named Deborah Giannecchini, from Modesto, California has just filed a separate lawsuit that alleges she developed ovarian cancer in 2012 after using Johnson & Johnson’s talcum powder for a prolonged period.
Her lawyer, Jim Onder, plans to argue in court that Johnson & Johnson was well aware of the risks involving the possible side effects of the product, but took no action to inform consumers of the said risks.
Talking to CBS Local, Onder said: “Ovarian cancer is obviously a very deadly disease, a very painful and tortuous death unfortunately. It’s sad that these women have to needlessly suffer like this, simply because Johnson and Johnson wasn’t willing to put a warning on the label.”
Despite the fact that two plaintiffs have already been awarded multimillion-dollar settlements, no scientific evidence can be cited by any of Johnson & Johnson’s accusers that can prove that the company’s baby powder product can and has indeed caused cancer in some of its consumers.
Although numerous studies over the last 45 years have been done in an attempt to look at the link between talcum powder and ovarian cancer, none of the studies have presented solid evidence that directly links ovarian cancer to baby powder.
But while evidence that points ovarian cancer to talc powder lacked scientific basis, juries that oversaw the trial concerning the lawsuit against Johnson & Johnson still believe that the latter’s product had something to do with the plaintiffs’ medical condition.
“Unfortunately, the jury’s decision goes against 30 years of studies by medical experts around the world that continue to support the safety of cosmetic talc,” said Johnson & Johnson’s representation following the trial.
Giannecchini’s lawsuit isn’t the only one filed against the company following its multimillion dollar settlement. Numerous other cancer patients have already stepped forward to file charges against Johnson & Johnson for similar reasons.
Earlier this month, a judge in New Jersey decided to throw out two cases filed against Johnson & Johnson, ruling that the women who filed charges against the company could not submit sufficient evidence that linked the company’s baby powder to cancer.
Johnson & Johnson is trying to fend off over 1,000 lawsuits filed in both state and federal courts that accuse the company of turning a blind eye to studies that linked baby powder to ovarian cancer.
The company is hoping that the decision of the New Jersey judge to dismiss two of the cases filed against them will help fend off all the others.
The plaintiffs’ lawyer, Ted Meadows, admitted that the judge’s ruling will affect 200 other similar cases filed in New Jersey, but added that it will not have any impact on over 1,000 others filed in St. Louis’s state court.http://vanguarddaily.com/more-baby-powder-cancer-lawsuits-cause-headache-for-johnson-johnson/
-
Another talcum powder lawsuit in St. Louis this week
Sep 26, 2016 | Fox 2 Now
ST. LOUIS (AP) _ Another lawsuit alleging that a woman’s use of talcum powder caused cancer is this week in St. Louis.
Lawyers for a Modesto, California, woman say she was diagnosed with ovarian cancer in 2012 after years of talcum use. Her lawsuit accuses Johnson & Johnson of “negligent conduct” in making and marketing its baby powder.
Earlier this year, two lawsuits ended in jury verdicts worth $127 million, but two others were thrown out by a judge who said there wasn’t reliable evidence that talc leads to ovarian cancer.
Most research finds no link or a weak one between ovarian cancer and using baby powder for feminine hygiene. Yet some 2,000 women have sued. Lawyers are reviewing thousands of other potential cases, most generated by ads touting the two big verdicts.
http://fox2now.com/2016/09/26/another-talcum-powder-lawsuit-in-st-louis-this-week/
US Coverage
Add recipients
Suggested