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Verdict: Ovarian Cancer Patient Gets Millions from Baby Powder Company

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Health products giant Johnson & Johnson lost another lawsuit this week to a woman who claimed their talc-based products caused her ovarian cancer and should have displayed a warning label. 

A jury awarded 62-year-old Lois Slemp a whopping 110 million dollars, making it the eighth largest jury award of any kind in the U.S. so far in 2017, and the largest of the four awards specifically to victims of ovarian cancer linked to Johnson & Johnson's baby powder products.  The company plans to appeal these verdicts and already won one suit against it. 

Johnson & Johnson is facing pending lawsuits filed by more than 2,000 people, many of which are class-action suits.  

At issue is whether the company was negligent for not posting warning labels on its talc-based products indicating they could cause ovarian cancer. 

Slemp used J&J's Baby Powder and Shower to Shower Powder for about 40 years.  She was diagnosed with ovarian cancer in 2012, which spread to her liver.  She is currently undergoing chemotherapy and was too sick to appear in court. 

Jurors said court documents indicated J&J tried to hide evidence their products could be dangerous, according to Bloomberg.  "I felt that J&J was withholding information about its products that was vital to women -- vital to women like me," said juror Nancy Kinney, who described herself as over 50 years old.

In 2006 The International Agency for Research on Cancer classified talc as a "possibly carcinogenic."  Talc is a mineral found in nature and absorbs moisture.  Talc naturally contains asbestos, which causes cancer.  This could be especially problematic if talc is used on genitals, where it could reach a woman's ovaries.  

Another juror, Lindsay Polley, said she believed the science pointed toward talc being a cancer risk factor.

"The J&J documents acknowledge that," she said. "If we could, we would make them put on a warning label."

A third juror, 32-year-old Jeremy King echoed those sentiments, calling the J&J documents "mind blowing."

However, Johnson & Johnson is fighting back against claims that their talc-based products need warning labels. 

They point-out that asbestos-free talc has been used in their products since the 1970s.  They say the studies on it are inconclusive, adding that the studies that found asbestos-free talc is linked to cancer are biased and the other studies found no link.  

Furthermore, during the trial, J&J lawyer Orlando Richmond argued that in 2014 the Food and Drug Administration was asked whether a warning label should be put on baby powder.

"They said 'No.' The science doesn't warrant it,'' Richmond said.

Ovarian cancer is a rare but deadly form of cancer.  About 22,000 women are diagnosed with it annually and 14,000 die from it, according to the American Cancer Society.  Currently there is no early detection test for ovarian cancer.
Symptoms include:

  • abdominal bloating, pressure, and pain
  • abnormal fullness after eating
  • difficulty eating
  • an increase in urination
     

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