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UK Lawsuit Hits Johnson & Johnson with $1.34 Billion Talc Claim
London, UK – Johnson & Johnson, the American pharmaceutical behemoth, is facing a massive legal battle across the pond as thousands in the United Kingdom have launched a joint lawsuit, seeking over £1 billion (approximately $1.34 billion). The plaintiffs allege that the company knowingly sold baby powder contaminated with asbestos, a known carcinogen.
More than 3,000 individuals, battling various forms of cancer and other illnesses, are behind this claim. Their case reportedly relies on internal Johnson & Johnson memos and scientific reports that suggest a long-standing awareness of the alleged contamination.
This isn’t Johnson & Johnson’s first rodeo with such accusations. The company has been embroiled in thousands of similar lawsuits in the United States.
Despite some successful appeals, last June saw J&J agree to a $700 million nationwide settlement to resolve claims of misleading customers about the safety of its talc-based products. Just last week, a Los Angeles jury ordered the firm to pay a staggering $966 million to the family of a woman who died from cancer after using J&J products.
The UK lawsuit, spanning the years 1965 to 2023, contends that Johnson & Johnson “knew their talc products contained carcinogenic fibres, including asbestos, for more than fifty years and chose to keep it on the market in pursuit of profit.”
Despite this alleged knowledge, the company reportedly only pulled its talcum powder products from British shelves in 2023, switching to a cornstarch-based alternative. This move came three years after similar actions in Canada and the U.S.
Tom Longstaff, the lead lawyer for the claimants from KP Law, which has filed the case against J&J and its subsidiary Kenvue Ltd. before the UK High Court, didn’t mince words. “For decades Johnson & Johnson have orchestrated a campaign of denials and subterfuge,” Longstaff stated. “The facts are clear, contaminated talc contains carcinogenic material and Johnson & Johnson knew the risk to consumers.”
He added, “The scale of Johnson & Johnson’s corporate wrongdoing is extraordinary, and we will be relentless in holding them to account on behalf of all those who have suffered due to their actions.”
In response, Johnson & Johnson issued a statement via CBS News, deferring inquiries to Kenvue, their former consumer health business. The statement clarified that Kenvue, which separated from J&J in August 2023, “retained the responsibility and any purported liability for talc related litigation outside of the United States and Canada.”
Kenvue, in a statement to the BBC, expressed deep sympathy for cancer patients and their families, emphasizing the importance of facts. The company asserted that the safety of its baby powder is supported by extensive testing from “independent and leading laboratories, universities, and health authorities in the U.K. and around the world” over many years. Kenvue further stated that J&J baby powder “was compliant with any required regulatory standards, did not contain asbestos, and does not cause cancer.”
Talc, a naturally occurring mineral, is often found alongside asbestos during mining, making it challenging to completely eliminate all traces of asbestos from talcum powder.
The UK claim alleges that regular users of Johnson & Johnson talcum powders have developed, and in many cases succumbed to, ovarian cancer, mesothelioma, uterine fibroids, and other diseases.
Siobhan Ryan, 63, shared her heartbreaking story with the BBC, stating, “My mother used it and I used it. It smelled nice and was soft and lovely.
When my babies were born I used it on them. I thought I was doing my best for them… It was such a shock.
We just hugged and cried. I couldn’t believe what I was hearing when the doctor told me I had stage-four ovarian cancer.”
Ryan, who attributes her cancer to Johnson & Johnson’s baby powder, has endured three rounds of chemotherapy, a near-fatal sepsis infection, and major abdominal surgery. Doctors have informed her that her cancer is no longer operable. “They knew it was contaminated and still they sold it to new mums and their babies,” she lamented.
According to the UK claim, Johnson & Johnson began commissioning scientists to analyze its talc-based products in the 1960s. An internal memo from 1969 reportedly advised minimizing the use of tremolite, a type of asbestos, until its safety could be confirmed, noting that talc could no longer be guaranteed as safe for infants.
By the 1980s, the dangers of all forms of asbestos were widely recognized. However, the lawsuit claims that Johnson & Johnson, along with other firms, successfully lobbied the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) against regulating asbestos content in talc.
In 2018, the FDA finally began testing talcum powder and related products for asbestos. A year later, Johnson & Johnson voluntarily recalled a batch of its powder after the FDA detected asbestos fibers in a sample.
The UK claims will be heard by a judge, not a jury, at the UK High Court’s Manchester Circuit Commercial Court. Johnson & Johnson, in a statement, expressed confidence that the judge will conclude its talc-based powder did not cause cancer.