Johnson and Johnson bedtime powder. Photo/supplied
Johnson and Johnson bedtime powder. Photo/supplied
Cosmetics company Johnson & Johnson has been ordered to pay US$110 million ($159.7m) to a woman who says she developed ovarian cancer after 40 years of using of its talc- based products.
Lois Slemp, who lives in the US state of Virginia, is undergoing chemotherapy after her ovarian cancer, initially diagnosed in 2012, returned and spread to her liver.
Slemp said she developed cancer after four decades of daily use of talc-containing products produced by J & J, specifically the well-known Johnson's Baby Powder and Shower to Shower Powder.
Thursday's verdict in Missouri awarded US$5.4m in compensatory damages and said J & J was 99 per cent at fault, while talc supplier Imerys was one per cent to blame.
But it awarded massive punitive damages of US$105m against J & J and a US$50,000 against Imerys.
There have been thousands of lawsuits filed against the company, the world's largest health care group, for allegedly ignoring studies that linked its baby powder and Shower to Shower product to ovarian cancer.
J & J failed to warn customers about the risk, lawyers claim.
Late last year, a jury awarded California woman Deborah Giannecchini US$70m in damages for her suit against J & J.
She was diagnosed with ovarian cancer in 2012 after years of using baby powder.
And in early 2016, Jacqueline Fox's family was awarded US$72m in damages after a jury found her use of talcum powder contributed to her widespread cancer.
Fox died in October 2015. Her son Marvin Salter said the company should've warned its customers.
Deborah Giannecchini of California picture supplied via facebook.
"It has to be safe. It's put on babies. It's been around forever. Why haven't we heard about any ill effects?"
"People were using something they thought was perfectly safe. And it isn't. At least give people the choice. J & J didn't give people a choice."
Following today's latest outcome, J & J said in a statement it sympathised with women impacted by ovarian cancer but planned to appeal.
"We are preparing for additional trials this year and we continue to defend the safety of Johnson's Baby Powder," J & J said.
The verdict was the largest so far out of about 2,400 lawsuits accusing the healthcare company of not adequately warning consumers about the cancer risks of talc-based products including Johnson's Baby Powder.
Many of those lawsuits are pending in the state court in St Louis, where the company has faced four prior trials, three of which resulted in verdicts awarding plaintiffs US$195m in total.
