Johnson & Johnson ordered to pay $110M in cancer lawsuit

[TexasTowelie]

Source: UPI

May 5 (UPI) -- A St. Louis jury has ordered Johnson & Johnson to pay more than $110 million to a Virginia woman who blamed the company's talcum products for her ovarian cancer.

The jury also ordered the company that provided the talc to Johnson & Johnson, Imerys Talc America, which is part of Paris-based Imerys SA, to pay about $100,000.

The jury awarded 62-year-old Lois Slemp $5.4 million in compensatory damages and $105 million in punitive damages.

Johnson & Johnson faces more than 3,000 lawsuits for allegedly ignoring studies linking its Baby Powder and Shower to Shower talc products to ovarian cancer and for allegedly failing to warn customers about the risk related to talc use. In 2006, the International Agency for Research on Cancer classified talc as a possible carcinogen.

Read more: http://www.upi.com/Top_News/US/2017/05/05/Johnson-Johnson-ordered-to-pay-110M-in-cancer-lawsuit/3281493979328/?utm_source=fp&utm_campaign=lh&utm_medium=6

[Eliot Rosewater]

1. Enjoy this story while you can, soon you will not be allowed to sue a corp

without risking losing everything you have if you lose.

Or you wont be able to sue at all.

Voting 3rd party has consequences and one of the many consequences is our courts will soon be filled with sycophants who will eliminate your right to sue.

[lunasun]

2. 100% Agree

[Faux pas]

3. Kickin' with gusto!

It's the least they should have to pay. Disgusting how greed kills.

[mopinko]

4. how solid is the science on this?

anybody know?

[RobinA]

7. My Question As Well

I had heard this many years ago, but thought I had read since that the science wasn't there. We'll never know, now that big bucks can be had.

[Drahthaardogs]

19. The woman poured copious amounts of talc on herself

Multiple times a day for decades. Yes, it probably caused it. No, I don't think they should be held accountable. You can die of water intoxication. This was not normal use of a product

[Honeycombe8]

5. I still find it hard to imagine that baby powder causes cancer.

I mean...how? Does it go through the skin pores? I believe that it does, obviously, or JNJ wouldn't be paying all that money. But if someone would've told me years ago that baby powder causes cancer, I would've said they're crazy.

[tenorly]

6. It's the additives.

Petrochemicals, usually designed to improve the flow of the product; some of the fragrances too. Occasional exposure wouldn't typically be a problem; but for those who use it constantly, it's a real risk.

[RobinA]

8. What Petrochemicals

are in talcum powder? I ask seriously, because when you look at the ingredients it's usually just talc and maybe fragrance or something.

[tenorly]

9. Some of the most common include:

Parabens, propylene glycol (normally used to de-ice airplanes), ethylene oxide (used to make the product feel silky, but prone to breaking down into highly toxic dioxane), tryclosan (a powerful endocrine disruptor in babies; most antibacterials have it), and of course mineral oils - a crafty marketing misnomer, since they're nothing but waste product from oil refineries.

Granted: it's impossible to avoid all these things all the time; but it's good to minimize them when you can.

[FailureToCommunicate]

12. Hmmm. Those things might be in certain lotions and other skin creme products, but not in a

powder. Certainly not in a powder that list it's ingredients as talc, and sometimes also fragrance.

Millions and millions have used talc and baby powder since 1890's. You would think there would long ago have been evidence of serious consequences for normal use of the product.

Color me skeptical.

[tenorly]

13. Most of those I mentioned are fairly recent introductions.

People's diet (in general), moreover, has become a lot more chemical-laden since the '50s, which of course also contributes.

Again, it's impossible to avoid everything, and I'm no suggesting otherwise; but one can try to minimize exposure within reason.

[kiri]

14. talc is similar to asbestos

Talc is chemically and mineralogically related to asbestos. It is not at all surprising that talcum powder presents a cancer risk. J&J's baby powder with its sweet scent is also why Americans seem to have a greater need for sweets than, say, Europeans and Asians. The odor gets imprinted from birth.

[FailureToCommunicate]

15. Um, no.

Remember the hundreds of thousands of deaths by talc?

Neither do I.

[Honeycombe8]

11. I see. Wow. Baby powder. nt

[Chemisse]

17. Thank-you. I wondered too.

I can understand the links to lung problems, from airborne particles, but didn't get the ovarian cancer connection.

[tenorly]

18. You're welcome.

I start to feel a little shortness of breath just thinking of those powders. Rough stuff, some of them.

[Chemisse]

25. I love the talc for adult powder needs.

It's so much better than the cornstarch powder, which provides food for yeast infections, etc.

But I wish it didn't have petrochemicals in it as well.

[Drahthaardogs]

20. More than likely

It was the constant repetition. She used the stuff every time she peed for decades. Probably caused inflammation which over time contributed to the illness

[tenorly]

22. Exactly.

It's a question of quantity and frequency. This is a big reason why so many television and film actors develop strange cancers: their work requires heavy, pthalate-laden makeup that they have to use for hours on end, day in and day out.

[jmowreader]

16. Talc deposits are often laced with asbestos

https://www.mesothelioma.com/asbestos-exposure/products/talc-powder/

As for cancers...https://www.cancer.gov/about-cancer/causes-prevention/risk/substances/asbestos/asbestos-fact-sheet

Asbestos has been classified as a known human carcinogen (a substance that causes cancer) by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, the EPA, and the International Agency for Research on Cancer (2, 3, 7, 8). Studies have shown that exposure to asbestos may increase the risk of lung cancer and mesothelioma (a relatively rare cancer of the thin membranes that line the chest and abdomen). Although rare, mesothelioma is the most common form of cancer associated with asbestos exposure. In addition to lung cancer and mesothelioma, some studies have suggested an association between asbestos exposure and gastrointestinal and colorectal cancers, as well as an elevated risk for cancers of the throat, kidney, esophagus, and gallbladder (3, 4). However, the evidence is inconclusive.

[Honeycombe8]

23. I looked that up...most talcs used by consumers don't have asbestos

Baby powder and such.

All talcum products used in homes in the United States have been asbestos-free since the 1970s.

https://www.cancer.org/cancer/cancer-causes/talcum-powder-and-cancer.html

[Bayard]

10. I'm a little skeptical of this

How can they prove this woman wasn't exposed to all kinds of carcinogens over the years? Why hasn't every baby that had its tushy dusted over the past 100 years (I don't know--how long has baby powder been around?) developed cancer? And J&J isn't the only baby powder manufacturer.

"I hope this verdict prompts J&J to acknowledge the facts and help educate the medical community and the public about the proper use of their products." Open diaper/underwear and insert powder. Don't breathe it. Pretty simple.

[Honeycombe8]

24. The way cancer works is that only SOME people exposed to carcinogens get the cancer.

100% of people who smoke don't get lung cancer. 100% of people who eat certain kinds of beef don't get cancer. 100% of people exposed to asbestos don't get asbestosis.

But there is no doubt that the carcinogens were the cause, or primary cause, of those cancers.

Radiation causes cancer. Mammograms, the microwave, x-rays, other types of radiation accumulate over the years and have an effect on the body. But it doesn't cause cancer in everyone, obviously.

Could be the amount of exposure over a certain length of time, a lower immune system, exposure to carcinogens in total, age of person, predisposition to a certain cancer. Who knows why one person can withstand smoking without getting cancer but another can't?

[Sunlei]

21. A 1971 paper found particles of talc embedded in 75% of the ovarian tumors studied

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/5558843

bad for the lungs too

[Chemisse]

26. Wow!! That certainly provides a cause and effect that is hard to deny.

But how would these particles find their way to the ovaries? They would be too large to enter through the pores of the skin like small molecules can.

[Drahthaardogs]

28. No it doesn't

Correlation, yes. Causation no.

[Chemisse]

29. Scientifically, yes.

But just like finding asbestos particles inside lung cancer tumors, this 'correlation' is pretty damning, making it hard to refute a connection in a court of law.

[Drahthaardogs]

32. No it's not. I am a toxicologist.

My guess is there is nothing carcinogenic in talc, but this has more to do with inflammation from constant application.

[LanternWaste]

33. Guessing is fun.

"My guess is there is nothing carcinogenic in talc..."

Guessing is fun, but not very valid in science. I'm certain you already know that...

[Drahthaardogs]

34. Please give the mechanism by which talc mutates DNA...

Guessing is not random when you actually know what the hell you are talking about.

[Sunlei]

30. don't know, a guess is particles migrate through the fallopian tubes

Fallopian tube

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fallopian_tube

[Chemisse]

31. Maybe it gets up in the reproductive organs via intercourse

And carried up toward the ovaries by the semen.

[Bayard]

27. Ok, thanks

That's the kind of info I'm looking for on this.