Talc Suppliers Warned J&J, Baby Powder Lawyers Say
Johnson & Johnson's talc suppliers used warning labels as early as 2006 on their shipments, and talcum powder cancer lawsuits claim Johnson & Johnson negligently decided against using their own warning labels when selling their talc products to the public.
Thursday, July 7, 2016 - Johnson & Johnson's argument in talcum powder cancer lawsuits that it did not consider warning labels necessary for its products has an interesting wrinkle concerning its talc suppliers. Though most of Johnson & Johnson's baby powder ovarian cancer lawsuits focus on the company's failure to affix warning labels to their talc products, the manufacturers that supplied them with talc sent their materials to Johnson & Johnson with warnings attached. The discovery presents yet another instance of the health care company coming in contact with a company or agency that were aware of the seriousness of the ovarian cancer connections that talcum powder exhibited and choosing not to pass the information concerning that potential risk onto its consumers.
Talcum powder ovarian cancer lawyers discovered the warnings suppliers included on the talc products they sent to Johnson & Johnson and have included it as evidence in the legal action being taken against the health care giant. Currently, more than 1,200 Johnson & Johnson's baby powder cancer lawsuits are pending around the country against the company now not adequately warning consumers of the ovarian cancer risk that has been associated with talc products when used genitally by women.
The medical research backing up the claims made by thousands of plaintiffs goes back decades and has been published in more than a dozen medical journals. Most of them have discovered a link between talcum powder and ovarian cancer when used genitally by women, with some finding the increased risk of contracting the disease as high as 33 percent as a result of regular talcum powder use. One of the epidemiologists that conducted research connected to the link between ovarian cancer and talcum powder estimated that as many as 10,000 cases of ovarian cancer in the U.S. could be tied to regular, genital talcum powder use.
The weight of this medical evidence was enough to persuade the suppliers of talc to affix warnings concerning the substance's potential to lead to ovarian cancer in 2006. Johnson & Johnson included no such warnings to the talcum powder products they sold to consumers, and internal documents from the company discovered by talcum powder cancer attorneys proved that the company was instead working on a framework to increase the sale of the cosmetic to African American and Hispanic populations who were perceived as the most loyal talcum powder consumers.
Baby powder ovarian cancer lawyers also recovered internal Johnson & Johnson documents that detailed warnings the company had received from doctors concerning the health risks posed by talcum powder, in addition to the risk the company would expose itself to if they decided against adding a warning label to their products. These internal documents were dated as far back as the mid 90s, roughly a decade before the talc suppliers decided to apply warnings to their talc shipments.
The failure of Johnson & Johnson to create and apply their own warning labels has now led to the accumulation of talcum powder ovarian cancer lawsuits. The two that have gone to trial thus far in 2016 have been awarded $127 million in damages, and the upward trend in the filing of baby powder cancer lawsuits indicates that the litigation is moving away from a favorable resolution for Johnson & Johnson.
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