J&J vows to appeal $70m ‘baby powder’ verdict
For the third consecutive time, a jury has agreed that a woman’s use of cosmetic talc led to ovarian cancer. Some say the brand’s marketing is ‘negligent.’
A jury in St. Louis took just three hours in determining that a woman’s decades-long use of baby powder for feminine hygiene led to her cancer diagnosis. The award to the plaintiff was $70 million.
Thursday’s verdict arrived quickly, as did the response from Johnson and Johnson’s corporate communications office. In a statement on the company website, Carol Goodrich, spokesperson for J&J’s Consumer Division, said:
“We deeply sympathize with the women and families impacted by ovarian cancer. We will appeal today’s verdict because we are guided by the science, which supports the safety of Johnson’s Baby Powder. In fact, two cases pending in New Jersey were dismissed in September 2016 by a state court judge who ruled that plaintiffs’ scientific experts could not adequately support their theories that talcum powder causes ovarian cancer, a decision that highlights the lack of credible scientific evidence behind plaintiffs’ allegations.”
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