$417 Million Awarded in Suit Tying Johnson’s Baby Powder to Cancer
In what may be the largest award so far in a lawsuit tying ovarian cancer to talcum powder, a Los Angeles jury on Monday ordered Johnson & Johnson to pay $417 million
in damages to a medical receptionist who developed ovarian cancer after using the company’s trademark Johnson’s Baby Powder on her perineum for decades.
But she added, “We will appeal today’s verdict because we are guided by the science, which supports the safety of Johnson’s Baby Powder.”
The company statement pointed to a National Cancer Institute report in April
that said, “The weight of evidence does not support an association between perineal talc exposure and an increased risk of ovarian cancer.”
But elsewhere, the cancer institute uses more ambivalent language, saying “it is not clear” if talcum powder increases the risk of ovarian cancer.
Eva Echeverria, 63, of East Los Angeles is one of thousands of women who have sued the consumer products giant Johnson & Johnson claiming baby powder caused their disease, pointing to studies linking talc to cancer
that date to 1971, when scientists in Wales discovered particles of talc embedded in ovarian and cervical tumors.
In March, a St. Louis jury rejected a Tennessee woman’s claim
that Johnson & Johnson’s powder caused her ovarian cancer, and a New Jersey judge dismissed two talcum powder lawsuits against the company, a company spokesman said.
Ms. Echeverria, who was too sick to testify in court and gave a videotaped deposition, started using Johnson’s Baby Powder when she was 11 and continued after being diagnosed with ovarian cancer in 2007, unaware
that some studies had linked talc to cancer, said her lawyer, Mark Robinson.