First Missouri Talcum Powder Trial To Begin In February
The first plaintiff was selected to go to trial against Johnson & Johnson regarding the claims that the company's talcum powder products contributed to her contraction of ovarian cancer.
Monday, September 7, 2015 - The talcum powder cancer lawsuits filed in the state of Missouri have selected the first plaintiff to begin their trial over claims that talcum products manufactured by Johnson & Johnson contributed to the contraction of ovarian cancer. The plaintiff, 61-year-old Jacqueline Fox, is scheduled to begin the first Missouri talcum powder trial on February 1, 2016.
The plaintiff at the heart of the first trial has claimed Johnson & Johnson failed to warn her of the possible connection between talcum powder and the contraction of ovarian cancer. The allegations state that the plaintiff used the Johnson & Johnson's Baby Powder and Shower to Shower talcum powder products, which have both been linked by a series of talcum powder research studies to increase the risk of contracting ovarian cancer by more than 30 percent. The plaintiff claims that Johnson & Johnson should have been aware of this connection, or intentionally disregarded the research available in an attempt to protect to marketability of their talcum products.
Attorneys for Ms. Fox have called on experts to testify on her behalf, two of them being doctors. One of the doctors was the first physician to have research on the connection between genital talc use and ovarian cancer published. The other is a physician that examined the plaintiff's ovarian cancer tumors personally and discovered talc particles. Research relating to the connection between talcum powder and ovarian cancer has discovered that the increased risk in the contraction of the disease is linked to talc particles traveling up the vaginal tract and becoming embedded in the ovaries. The plaintiff is claiming that a similar process took place in her case after regular use of Johnson & Johnson talcum powder products for more than 35 years.
Talcum powder lawsuits in Missouri state court have been steadily building toward the trial period, passing a status conference hearing in July that reviewed the cases that would be potentially approved to proceed to a hearing. They are not the only talcum powder lawsuits however, as more than 700 around the country are currently pending against the manufacturers of the products, principally Johnson & Johnson.
The FDA first took steps to regulate talcum powder by limiting the amount of asbestos allowed in the mining of talc products in 1973 after it was discovered that it was linked to the development of cancer. Since that time however, the regulation of talcum powder products has been light. No warning has appeared on the labels for Johnson & Johnson talcum powder products despite decades of research indicating a possible link between the substance and the development of ovarian cancer when used genitally.
More than 100 talcum powder lawsuits are also filed in state courts around New Jersey are nearing consolidation into multicounty litigation. Those lawsuits, filed in the same state where Johnson & Johnson is headquartered, shares similar claims to the one heading to trial in Missouri. Johnson & Johnson initiated the motion for multicounty litigation, though has not admitted any wrongdoing thus far in their failure to properly warn patients of a possible increased risk of ovarian cancer connected to their talcum powder products.
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