mm-news-@dmin Did a household name cause ovarian cancer? Johnson & Johnson faces UK showdown
More than 3,000 UK citizens are taking healthcare giant Johnson & Johnson to court, alleging its talc-based baby powder caused their cancer.
Claimants also accused the company of “already knowing,” accusing the company of a decades-long cover-up.
The plaintiffs have filed the landmark lawsuit at the High Court in London. Representing one of the largest product liability cases in British history.
According to the claimants, Johnson and Johnson (J&J) had been selling baby powder contaminated with asbestos, a known carcinogen, for decades, knowing that the product was dangerous and hiding the truth about it.
A lawsuit filed by KP Law on behalf of persons who contracted ovarian cancer or mesothelioma is potentially worth hundreds of millions of pounds in damages.
It claims that J&J had known since the 1960s that its talc contained asbestos fibers, but concealed this fact using internal company documents.
Allegation of a decades-long over-up
Court records allege that the lawsuit accuses J&J of a concerted action to defend its lucrative product.
Michael Rawlinson KC, who was representing the claimants, said that the company hid the facts, lobbying the regulators to accept less sensitive testing techniques, and funded research to minimize the risks of its talc.
In 1973, the company claimed in an internal letter that talc fragments in its baby powder could be classified as fiber, and that sometimes, they detected traces of tremolite or actinolite—minerals that become asbestos in their fibrous forms. This active voice version puts the company as the subject performing the claims and detections, clarifying agency while maintaining the original content’s nuance about the presence of these minerals.
The plaintiffs believe that they should have issued warnings rather than further advertising the powder as pure and safe, namely to new mothers, and, subsequently, African American women.
The company denies all allegations
J&J, and its consumer health spin-off Kenvue, which now deals with the allegations outside North America, vehemently deny the claims.
Kenvue stated, “Years of testing back the safety of Johnson’s Baby Powder. Our tests confirm it contains no asbestos, and it does not cause cancer.”
The company states that lawyers or spokespeople misrepresent the internal documents mentioned in the suit and negotiate the issues of patents and testing standards regularly as part of their business operations.
Personal tragedies fuel legal battle
The case is driven by highly emotional narratives.
Janet Fuschillo, 75, reported that she sprayed the powder on herself and her four children for almost 50 years after she was diagnosed with ovarian cancer seven years ago.
She told the BBC that she had been doing her best to help them.
Patricia Angell is another claimant who claims that her husband Edward died in 2006 of mesothelioma.
She claimed that although he worked as an electrician, and had never been exposed to asbestos. He was taking Johnson & Johnson talc daily.
Edward’s autopsy report contained the name of talc, she said, as well as asbestos strains in contaminated talc.
The court’s verdict will be highly significant as it could set a major precedent. For consumer product liability in the UK.
