Earlier this month, a Missouri jury awarded $72 million in a civil lawsuit brought against pharmaceutical giant Johnson & Johnson. Jackie Fox, 62, died in October of last year of ovarian cancer.
Fox’s family claims that regular use of Johnson’s Baby Powder played a part in causing the cancer. The powder contains talc, a mineral which is categorized by the World Health Organization’s International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) as “possibly carcinogenic.”
Other Problematic Products
Johnson & Johnson is no stranger to complaints over its products’ ingredients. Up until 2012, some Johnson & Johnson products, including Johnson’s Baby Shampoo contained formaldehyde and 1,4 dioxane.
Formaldehyde is considered a “probable carcinogen” in humans by the IARC, while 1,4 dioxane is considered “possibly carcinogenic.” The company removed these ingredients from its products as a result of pressure from a group called Campaign for Safe Cosmetics.
Is There a Link Between Talc and Ovarian Cancer?
Despite the civil award in the Johnson & Johnson lawsuit, a definitive link between the talc used in products like Johnson’s Baby Powder and ovarian cancer is somewhat murky. Some studies have shown a slight increase in risk while others have shown no link whatsoever.
The difficulty with talc research is that case-control studies rely on a woman’s memory of how much and how often she used baby powder, so answers can be biased or inaccurate. Cohort studies, which follow a group of women over time, provide more reliable research – but to date they have shown no increased risk of ovarian cancer.
Talcum powder previously contained asbestos, a known carcinogen, but it was taken out of talc products in the 1970s, as verified by the US Food & Drug Administration (FDA) in 2010.
The Market Responds to the Outcome of the Johnson & Johnson Lawsuit
In last week’s Missouri lawsuit, Fox’s award was broken down into $10 million for actual damages and $62 million for punitive damages. However, legal experts say that punitive damages tend to be reduced over the course of the appeals process.
Johnson & Johnson stock dropped $0.71 in value the day after the news of the lawsuit broke. However, as of close of February 26, its stock price had bounced back and was $105.78, up $1.70 over the price it was prior to the lawsuit’s settlement announcement.
Johnson & Johnson is a New Jersey-based pharmaceutical company founded in 1886 which has been selling baby powder products since 1894.
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