Johnson & Johnson to pay $42m in baby powder cancer payout

The verdict said that the baby powder was a "substantial contributing factor" in the woman's illness. Photo / 123rf

Johnson & Johnson must pay US$29 million ($42 million) to a woman who claimed its baby powder gave her terminal cancer, a California jury ruled today.

A Superior Court jury in Oakland found the world's largest health care company mainly liable for Teresa Leavitt's mesothelioma.

The verdict said that the baby powder was a "substantial contributing factor" in her illness.

Mesothelioma is a tumour of the tissue that lines vital organs such as the lungs, heart and stomach.

Her suit is one of many that link cancers to asbestos in Johnson & Johnson's talc-based products and contend that the company concealed the health risk for decades.

Requests for comment from the New Jersey-based comment were not immediately answered.

Johnson & Johnson is facing some 13,000 similar lawsuits around the United States.

The company has insisted that its talc-based products are demonstrably safe but it has lost a string of court cases.

Last year, a Los Angeles jury awarded US$25.7 million to a woman who blamed her cancer on the powder.

A jury in Missouri last year awarded US$4.69 billion to 22 women.

Johnson & Johnson's stock price dropped nearly 2 per cent after hours on Wednesday local time before recovering to close at US$139.41.

-AP