Johnson & Johnson To Pay $72m In Ovarian Cancer Death Linked To Baby Powder

The face of bathrooms all over the world may soon be totally changed after a Missouri jury awarded the family of a women who died from ovarian cancer a massive $72 million dollars.

The civil suit was levelled against household name Johnson & Johnson after the woman, prior to her death, claimed that her cancer had been caused by using the company’s baby powder and other products.

That woman was Jackie Fox, native or Birmingham, Alabama. Fox died from her illness in October of 2015, after a two year fight. Her son Marvin Salter took over as the plaintiff, seeking justice for his mother, who was a regular Johnson & Johnson user. Marvin said in the proceedings that he remembered the talcum powder being a bathroom staple in the home for decades, and he never thought anything of it being used by everyone:

“It just became second nature, like brushing your teeth,” he said. “It’s a household name.”

In the trial it emerged that Fox had been using Johnson’s Baby Powder and the Shower to Shower body powder as a feminine hygiene product for more than 35 years.

The final verdict was served on Monday night at the end of a three-week trial and almost five hours of deliberations from the jury. They found Johnson & Johnson guilty of negligence, conspiracy and fraud. Mrs. Fox was ultimately awarded $10m in actual damages in $62m in punitive damages.

The family’s attorney had this to say:

“Jacqueline Fox was an incredible lady whose life was cut far too short by the callous decisions by the bosses at Johnson and Johnson. Inside J&J folks have known for decades, literally decades, that the talc contained in its products could cause cancer. Instead of warning customers, J&J executives made the deliberate decision to hide the risk and keep on selling. The internal documents tell a horrifying and infuriating story of corporate greed and indifference to human life. We are honored to represent the family of Ms. Fox and to bring to light the misdeeds of this company.”

They also noted that they expected Johnson & Johnson would attempt to appeal the verdict, but the case remained significant as it was the first time that the jury had ordered Johnson & Johnson to pay damages for the cancer-causing claims.

Johnson & Johnson Under The Spotlight

Now this isn’t the first time that Johnson & Johnson has come under fire from both heath and consumer groups over some possibly harmful ingredients in their product line, including in their baby-targeted products.

A coalition of these groups, known as the Campaign for Safe Cosmetics, began pushing Johnson & Johnson in May of 2009, urging them to remove these ingredients from their products. It took three years of petitions, a reasonable amount of negative publicity and even a widespread boycott threat before the company agreed. In 2015 they finally removed 1,4-dioxane and formaldehyde, both of which are widely recognised as probable human carcinogens.

However the recent suit alleges that Johnson & Johnson were absolutely aware of the dangers of these ingredients, and of the ‘hygienic talc’ in their products, but choose not to give consumers warning. Talc itself is a naturally occurring mineral, but hygienic talc has been linked several times with ovarian cancer. One study even found that in women examined the majority of their ovarian tumours were embedded with particles of talc. The suit uncovered a September 1997 internal memo from a Johnson & Johnson medical consultant that said the link between hygienic talc use and ovarian cancer was similar to the link between smoking and cancer.

The response from Johnson & Johnson was that they were considering their next legal move. A spokesperson said that the verdict “goes against decades of sound science proving the safety of talc as a cosmetic ingredient in multiple products”.

What Does This Mean For The Company?

While the $72m in damages is unlikely to survive the appeal process in its whole (the government is trying to stop enormous punitive damages cases) the case still has ramifications, particularly for Johnson & Johnson. Experts believe the company is in troubled waters, as the case has set an interesting precedent at a time when Johnson & Johnson are currently facing at least 1,200 still-pending lawsuits, with more on the way.

However, if it really is true that Johnson & Johnson were aware of the inherent dangers of hygienic talc and chose not to act and warn their consumers, they deserve everything that’s coming for them.