London: Thousands of people in the UK have sued Johnson & Johnson (J&J) for £1 billion ($1.3 billion), claiming that the company’s baby powder products contained asbestos and caused ovarian cancer and mesothelioma.
There are over 3,000 claimants in the lawsuit, which is being heard in the High Court in London. KP Law is representing them. It says that the US pharmaceutical and cosmetics company has been selling talc-based goods that contain asbestos for decades, even though they knew it may be bad for people’s health.
The lawsuit says that anyone who used J&J’s Baby Powder between 1965 and 2023 got cancer or their relatives did.
“I’ve Used Talc All My Life”: A Survivor’s Story
Sue Rizzello, a 60-year-old marketing consultant from Slough, is one of the people who is suing. She thinks that using talc all her life caused her stage 3 ovarian cancer.
“I’ve always used talc. Everyone did when I was a kid. Rizzello told The Guardian, “It was always there.”
Doctors diagnosed Rizzello in 2012 after seeing that she was ballooning in an odd way. She had chemotherapy and significant surgery to remove her reproductive organs. She added that even though she finally got better, the experience “shook her confidence to the core.”
Later, genetic testing showed that she did not have the BRCA mutation that is related to ovarian cancer. This made her suspicious of the J&J baby powder she had used for years.
“I thought, wait a second,” she said. “I’m sure this is what made me sick and caused all the horrible treatments and tests that came after.”
People all across the world are looking at J&J’s talcum powder.
People are starting to question Johnson & Johnson’s baby powder, which used to be a trusted household item all around the world, because of claims that it contains asbestos.
KP Law said that J&J knew about cancer-causing fibers in their talc for more than 50 years but “chose to keep it on the market in the pursuit of profit.”
According to an AFP article, the corporation took talc-based baby powder off the North American market in 2020 and then off the UK market in 2023.
In July 2024, the World Health Organization’s International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) said that talc is “probably carcinogenic to humans.”
A meta-analysis of 250,000 women in the US in 2020, on the other hand, revealed no statistical association between using talc on genitals and getting ovarian cancer. This shows how divided scientists are on the subject.
Even while the results are varied, lawsuits and personal stories have people worried around the world.
J&J and Kenvue Answer
A Johnson & Johnson representative told people to talk to Kenvue, the corporation’s former consumer health division, which established its own company in August 2023, in response to the UK case.
The spokeswoman stated, “As part of that separation, Kenvue kept responsibility and any supposed liability for talc-related lawsuits outside of the US and Canada.”
A Kenvue spokesperson defended the product by saying that “years of testing” by independent labs and global health agencies back up the safety of J&J’s Baby Powder.
The statement went on to say, “The talc used in the powder met regulatory standards, did not contain asbestos, and does not cause cancer.”
J&J’s Past Legal Problems
Earlier this year, US courts turned down J&J’s offer to settle about 90,000 talc-related cases in North America for about $8 billion over 25 years, without admitting fault.
The firm still says it didn’t do anything illegal and that its talc-based products are safe. It also says that scientific research doesn’t show a link between talc use and cancer.
Wider Effects and Effects on the Industry
The UK lawsuit is one of the biggest group lawsuits in Europe against a US company for allegedly making products that aren’t safe.
If it works, it might change the rules for protecting consumers and set a legal precedent for future claims about the safety of cosmetics and drugs.
Millions of families have trusted Johnson & Johnson’s baby powder for decades, but the case also raises tough issues about how open companies are, how they test their products, and how responsible they are for the health of their customers.