By Dietrich Knauth
NEW YORK, June 5 (Reuters) – A Los Angeles jury on Friday sided with Johnson & Johnson in a lawsuit by the families of three women who alleged that the company’s talc products caused ovarian cancer, finding that J&J was not negligent when selling cosmetic talc products.
• The lawsuit was filed by the families of Mary Owens, Bonnie Tienken and Geneva Williams, who each died of ovarian cancer after using talc-based baby powder.
• More than 67,000 plaintiffs have sued J&J, alleging that its baby powder and other talc products cause ovarian cancer.
• J&J has won some cases outright, including an Oklahoma trial last week, but juries have awarded large verdicts for plaintiffs in other cases.
• J&J stopped selling talc-based baby powder in the U.S. in 2020, switching to a cornstarch product.
• The case was based on “junk science,” said Erik Haas, J&J’s vice president of litigation.
• The verdict is “disappointing,” said lawyer Ari Friedman, who represented one of the plaintiffs.
• J&J has settled a majority of cases alleging that its products caused mesothelioma, a rare form of cancer associated with asbestos.
• Nearly all of the remaining cases allege that talc products cause ovarian cancer.
(Reporting by Dietrich Knauth, Editing by Rosalba O’Brien and Sergio Non.)
