Woman Awarded £58m In Lawsuit After Claiming Johnson’s Baby Powder Gave Her Cancer
On Thursday, a California woman, Deborah Giannecchini, 62, was awarded more than $70 million in her lawsuit after claiming that Johnson & Johnson’s baby powder caused her ovarian cancer. This is the latest case raising concerns about the health ramifications of extended talcum powder use.
After undergoing surgery, radiation and chemotherapy, Giannecchini‘s chance of survival over the next two years is just 20 per cent.
The Associated Press reports:
The jury ruling ended the trial that began Sept. 26 in the case brought by Deborah Giannecchini of Modesto, California. She was diagnosed with ovarian cancer in 2012. The suit accused Johnson & Johnson of “negligent conduct” in making and marketing its baby powder.
“We are pleased the jury did the right thing. They once again reaffirmed the need for Johnson & Johnson to warn the public of the ovarian cancer risk associated with its product,” Jim Onder, an attorney for the plaintiff, told The Associated Press.
“We deeply sympathize with the women and families impacted by ovarian cancer,” Carol Goodrich, a spokeswoman with Johnson & Johnson, said in a statement.
“We will appeal today’s verdict because we are guided by the science, which supports the safety of Johnson’s Baby Powder.”
Earlier this year, two other lawsuits in St. Louis ended in jury verdicts worth a combined $127 million. But two others in New Jersey were thrown out by a judge who said there wasn’t reliable evidence that talc leads to ovarian cancer, an often fatal but relatively rare form of cancer. Ovarian cancer accounts for about 22,000 of the 1.7 million new cases of cancer expected to be diagnosed in the U.S. this year.
About 2,000 women have filed similar suits, and lawyers are reviewing thousands of other potential cases, most generated by ads touting the two big verdicts out of St. Louis – a $72 million award in February to relatives of an Alabama woman who died of ovarian cancer, and a $55 million award in May to a South Dakota survivor of the disease.
Much research has found no link or a weak one between ovarian cancer and using baby powder for feminine hygiene, and most major health groups have declared talc harmless. Johnson & Johnson, whose baby powder dominates the market, maintains it’s perfectly safe.
But Onder of the Onder Law Firm in suburban St. Louis, which represented plaintiffs in all three St. Louis cases, cited other research that began connecting talcum powder to ovarian cancer in the 1970s. He said case studies have indicated that women who regularly use talc on their genital area face up to a 40 percent higher risk of developing ovarian cancer.
Onder has accused Johnson & Johnson of marketing toward overweight women, blacks and Hispanics – the very same women most at-risk for ovarian cancer, he said.
Johnson & Johnson has been targeted before by health and consumer groups over ingredients in its products, including Johnson’s No More Tears baby shampoo. The company agreed in 2012 to eliminate 1,4-dioxane and formaldehyde, both considered probable carcinogens, from all products by 2015.
Photo credit: Reuters/Rick Wilking
Wow that’s a lot of money men. Good for her.
who do i sue now
Na wa o Johnson
Hmmmmmm poor Johnson and Johnson, you may soon go bank rupt
Sue no dey work for here.
Huge sum of cash………Johnson and Johnson coy do something fast about your product