Johnson & Johnson begins battle over $10 billion case linking baby powder to cancer

[BumRushDaShow]

Source: The Independent

Tuesday 18 February 2025 12:22 GMT


Johnson & Johnson faces a critical test on Tuesday over its $10 billion proposal to end litigation alleging that its baby powder caused ovarian cancer, as it tries to convince a judge to sign off on its third attempt to resolve thousands of lawsuits through a subsidiary’s bankruptcy.

U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Christopher Lopez in Houston will decide the fate of the company’s latest Chapter 11 during a weeks-long court hearing weighing competing demands to approve the settlement or end the bankruptcy altogether.

J&J is attempting to use a subsidiary’s bankruptcy to resolve lawsuits from more than 62,000 plaintiffs alleging its baby powder and other talc products were contaminated with asbestos and caused ovarian and other cancers, a claim that J&J denies.

Courts have rejected J&J’s two previous efforts to resolve the talc litigation through a subsidiary’s bankruptcy, but the company is trying again in a different bankruptcy court. It says the third effort can succeed where the others faltered because it now has votes showing a broad level of support for its settlement proposal.

Read more: https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/johnson-baby-powder-ovarian-cancer-b2700095.html

[PSPS]

1. "it now has votes" means someone went to mar-a-lago carrying a sack with dollar signs on it

[twodogsbarking]

2. There are many attorneys involved. Many.

[Jilly_in_VA]

3. Technically

from a nursing standpoint, I don't see and never have seen how the baby powder, talc or not, could possibly cause ovarian cancer, no matter how much you used it. The female anatomy is pretty much a closed system, meaning that the talc couldn't get past the cervix. Any woman who has had a D&C or who has had an IUD inserted will know what I mean. For the talc to get up in there and then to the fallopian tubes and to the ovaries seems like one hell of a stretch to me. How this case has gone on for so long completely baffles me.

[womanofthehills]

4. Looks like asbestos talc was found in ovarian tissue samples

Sounds like some of these women used this stuff many times a day for 20 to 50 yrs so lots was inhaled too.

[FakeNoose]

5. Dumb question from somebody who isn't a medical professional ...

Isn't baby powder a product that is meant to be used on babies' bottoms? I can't understand how (or why) some women were putting it in their woo-hoo. Also I've never heard that any actual babies got cancer from the baby powder.

Apologies for my deficiency of medical knowledge.

[BumRushDaShow]

6. I think the issue is with prolonged usuage

Babies aren't "babies" forever, so it wasn't used on them for years and years.

I grew up with school friends and later many women at work, who swore by it, not only after showering, but as a sort of "antiperspirant" - I.e., they would use it a lot in the summer around any spot/orifice that might sweat or stay "damp" (which might also address any chafing that they might have experienced normally).

[PennyC]

7. It was in common usage

I always used a bit of baby powder on areas that might be damp or sweaty (down there, underarms, below boobies, feet). I now use cornstarch powder (which is now sold as baby powder).