Johnson & Johnson ordered to pay $4.7bn in talc powder claim

[muriel_volestrangler]

Source: The Guardian

Johnson & Johnson has been ordered to pay nearly $4.7bn (£3.58bn) in damages to 22 women who claim the company’s talcum powder contributed to them developing ovarian cancer.

Mark Lanier, lead counsel for the women, six of whom have died from ovarian cancer, said that Johnson & Johnson had covered up evidence of asbestos in its products for more than 40 years.

After a six week trial at a court in St Louis, a jury awarded the women $4.14bn in punitive damages and $550m in compensatory damages.

Medical experts testified during the trial that asbestos, a known carcinogen, is mixed in with mineral talc, which is the primary ingredient in Johnson & Johnson’s Baby Powder and Shower to Shower products.

Read more: https://www.theguardian.com/business/2018/jul/13/johnson-johnson-ordered-to-pay-47bn-in-talc-powder-claim

[mr_lebowski]

1. WOW!?! I mean, this level of payout won't stand, but even in appeal this'll end up being

A very significant sum, and also opens up a huge can of worms given how many people have used these products, including on their babies.

As an aside I knew asbestos was linked to lung damage (and in certainly in some cases lung cancer due to that damage) but never realized it was a general 'carcinogen', like it could cause all kinds of cancer in numerous body parts like some noxious organic hydrocarbon or the like.

I mean, it's a mineral, not a 'chemical' (well, in the traditional sense of the word ... technically, everything's a 'chemical').

I thought it was more a 'physically damaging' substance than a 'chemically damaging one', if you understand the distinction I'm trying to make.

I find this verdict surprising based on my basic scientific understanding of asbestos, put it like that.

[pnwmom]

3. I think it might be related to the physical damage. If the talc/asbestos works it's way up inside

a woman, due to its use on genitals (which was promoted), then I'd think it would have a similar effect to inhaling it into the lungs.

[appalachiablue]

8. J&J's Baby Powder & shower products have long been suspected.

According to the World Health Organization, cancers and diseases caused by asbestos in the workplace and home include:

WHO: 'All forms of asbestos are carcinogenic to humans. Exposure to asbestos, including chrysotile, causes cancer of the lung, larynx, and ovaries, and also mesothelioma (a cancer of the pleural and peritoneal linings). Asbestos exposure is also responsible for other diseases such as asbestosis (fibrosis of the lungs), and plaques, thickening and effusion in the pleura.' http://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/asbestos-elimination-of-asbestos-related-diseases

[Drahthaardogs]

17. Chronic inflammation can promote cancer

Asbestos fibers are small and get into lung tissue where they cannot be expelled. I believe similar issues exist with the female reproductive tract.

[mr_lebowski]

18. Yeah I knew about the chronic inflammation part, just didn't know asbestos exposure

Could cause cancer in regions other than the Lungs.

And I didn't know we called things 'carcinogens' when it happens via an indirect physical method rather than a chemical 'dna-damaging' method.

[eShirl]

2. ASBESTOS in baby powder??

evil fucks

How many babies over the decades have breathed in the ASBESTOS IN THEIR BABY POWDER? Workers removing asbestos shingles have to wear special protection so they don't breathe in any particles floating around in the air.

[Archae]

5. It's a lie from huckster lawyers.

[Archae]

4. By this "logic," I should sue Scott brand toilet paper.

I have prostate cancer, so I blame it on Scott brand toilet paper.
I need umpty-billion dollars!

Missouri is notorious for handing out huge lawsuit awards, and actual...*GASP* science gets thrown out.
As do most of these huge awards.
And J & J baby powder doesn't have asbestos in it.

These huckster lawyers made this all up.

If anyone has any *REAL* evidence of asbestos in J & J baby powder, show it.

And none of this bullshit from "Nautral News" or other alarmist web sites.

Millions and millions of people use this baby powder, and don't get cancer.

Some do, and blame baby powder, based on nothing.

[Fullduplexxx]

6. And there's no sawdust in grated parmesan cheese.... oh wait.

[Archae]

7. Sawdust was found in cheap parmesan cheese products.

TO DATE, asbestos has not been found in baby powder.

[jmowreader]

14. It's geologic, Archae

Talc is a rock that has to be mined, as is asbestos. A LOT of the earth's talc deposits formed in the same places asbestos ore did - which would make sense because talc is magnesium silicate and so are several of the asbestos minerals. (What happened is that thanks to geologic events, pure dumb luck and magic, some of the magnesium silicate in a deposit turned into a fine-grained rock and some into fibrous rock. The fine-grained rock we call talc, and the fibrous rock we call asbestos.) When they dig up the talc, sometimes they get asbestos along with it.

In the 1970s, they developed the techniques needed to get all the asbestos out of talc...but before then, talc had a small amount of asbestos in it.

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

[Bayard]

9. This is the first I've heard of the asbestos angle

Is that proven?

[RobinA]

10. Me Too

I came on this thread to see if there was a link to proof that baby powder causes cancer.

[Bayard]

11. The TV Mesothelioma lawyers will go wild....

[RobinA]

15. After Taking a Quick

spin around the Interwebs, it seems that talc and asbestos are very close relatives and when you mine talc you tend to get members of the asbestos branch of the family in your shovel along with the talc. If you don't actively remove it, you get...asbestos in your talc. This has been illegal since the '70's and J&J claims they have never had asbestos in their talc. There seems to be no proof either way. So if you have an old can of J&J baby powder around from the '50's, you might want to have in analyzed.

Learn something new every day!

[MountCleaners]

12. I'm sorry they got cancer...

...and maybe there is asbestos or something else that's harmful, but who puts talcum powder on their hoochie-coochie? I'm assuming that's how it got there. Sad that women are that self-conscious about smelling "down there".

[RobinA]

13. Apparently

a lot of women do. This was news to me, too, but I guess it's a thing. Never even ever occurred to me.

[AwakeAtLast]

16. I think it is an old practice

Right up there with using Lysol ( ). I don't think it is done much now.