Thousands of women in the UK are planning to take legal action against Johnson & Johnson (J&J) over alleged links between its talc-based baby powder and ovarian cancer.
Lawyers claim the United States-based multinational “knew for decades” that there was allegedly asbestos present in its talc products, but J&J has not admitted any liability and maintains its baby powder has always been safe.
Claimants, including cancer patients and survivors, as well as families of those who have died from the disease, have expressed anger and called for answers.
Asbestos a Known Carcinogen
KP Law is leading the UK case, representing about 2,000 people, with thousands of other potential claimants understood to have contacted the firm.Linda Jones, 66, from Devon, was diagnosed with ovarian cancer in November 2023 and has been told she may have just months to live.
Jones said, “We all used [J&J] talc, without exception ... My mother used it on me when I was a baby in the ‘50s, and I kept using it for years after.”
Jones added: “My children will lose their mother, I may never even meet my first grandchild, and my husband and I have been robbed of our retirement together after just six years of marriage.
“But I am also bitter and very angry. If there was any suggestion whatsoever that the talcum powder would cause harm to not only women, but small babies, it should have been taken off the market.”
Formula Changed to Corn Starch
J&J discontinued sales of talc-based baby powder in the UK in 2023, having announced in August 2022 that it would stop making this version globally and would transition to using corn-starch. It said the decision to change the formula was owing to “misinformation” about its famous product, a staple in many family bathrooms since its launch in 1894.Tom Longstaff, a partner at KP Law, said: “All of the claimants, predominantly women but also some men, who have sustained cancer after using J&J’s talcum powder products have experienced a life-changing illness.
“In some cases, they have died from their cancer, leaving their families devastated. All of these innocent individuals deserve justice.”
Erik Haas, worldwide vice president of litigation at J&J, said the company “takes the issue of talc safety incredibly seriously and always has.”
He added: “As our documents show, we have relied upon the most state-of-the-art testing protocols for decades and have been entirely transparent with government institutions and academic researchers regarding our findings.
“Those findings uniformly show the absence of asbestos contamination in Johnson’s Baby Powder and the talc sourced for Johnson’s Baby Powder.
“Independent science makes clear that talc is not associated with the risk of ovarian cancer nor mesothelioma.”
‘A False Narrative’
He said the lawyers of groups of plaintiffs in the United States are “actively pushing a false narrative about the history of talc and its alleged contamination to media globally” which “defies logic, rewrites history, and ignores the facts.”When faced with tens of thousands of lawsuits in North America in 2023, the company split off its consumer health care products sector into a new company, Kenvue. J&J is now exclusively focused on developing and producing pharmaceutical prescription drugs and medical device technologies.
For the fiscal year 2023, J&J reported earnings of $35.15 billion, with an annual revenue of $85.16 billion, an increase of 10.57 percent over the previous fiscal cycle.
In 2023, J&J offered to pay almost $9 billion to resolve tens of thousands of lawsuits it faces in North America. Haas said that Kenvue, whose well-known brands include Listerine and Neutrogena among others, is responsible for “any alleged talc liability that arises outside of the U.S. or Canada” following its separation from J&J.
Longstaff said that his firm is committed to helping as many people as possible whose cancer may have been caused by J&J’s baby powder to “achieve justice in the UK for the actions of profit-hungry executives in US boardrooms.”
The lawyer added, “This once-trusted corporation knew for decades that the asbestos in its talc products was present, that it was dangerous, but did nothing to notify consumers, who have ended up paying the highest price imaginable for the sake of corporate greed.”
And he said there are “thousands” of women in the UK who will have been diagnosed with cancers which have been linked to the use of talcum powder, along with a smaller proportion of men who have been diagnosed with mesothelioma and peritoneal cancer.
Mesothelioma is a type of cancer more common in men than women that develops in the lining that covers the outer surface of some of the body’s organs and is usually linked to asbestos exposure. Peritoneal cancer affects the lining of the abdomen and while it is primarily found in women, it can occasionally affect men.
KP Law has issued a letter before action on behalf of its clients, giving J&J until the end of the year to respond before lawyers file documents with the High Court.
