The reputation of talcum powder in the US as being synonymous with product purity and safety is under threat, as a series of health-based legal cases hit American courts.
Indeed, the name Baby Powder given to the product by Johnson & Johnson (J&J) stands as innate testimony to wholesomeness.
Perhaps no longer – a series of lawsuits, aimed primarily at the US-based personal care product giant, is threatening to tarnish the good name of talc. Alleging a link to ovarian cancer for women who use the product in intimate areas, attorneys have filed more than 2,000 individual and class action suits. More are expected, especially if the claim that some 10,000 women have contracted this form of cancer as a result of talc use starts to gain traction in rulings... and it might.
It is too early
to tell how these cases will pan out, especially
given that the defendant is appealing all
verdicts, and how big the overall dimensions of
talcum powder litigation will turn out to be.
Arthur Wong, J&J analyst Standard & Poor’s
In October 2016, a Missouri jury ordered J&J to pay Deborah Giannecchini, 62, US$70m in damages
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