J&J faces fresh litigation in UK over talc cancer risks
Thousands of people in the UK have joined a lawsuit against Johnson & Johnson, alleging that it knowingly sold talc products, contaminated with asbestos, that caused cancer.
Documents filed today by KP Law, a specialist in multi-claimant legal actions, are taking J&J as well as its consumer health spinout company Kenvue to task on behalf of around 3,000 people who claim that either they or a family member developed ovarian cancer or mesothelioma after using Baby Powder talc products.
The filing of the legal action comes just a few days after J&J suffered a major setback in its defence in the US against claims that its talc products caused cancer, after a jury in a court in California ordered the company to pay $966 million to the family of Mae Moore, who died from mesothelioma aged 88 in 2021.
Kenvue, which has taken on responsibility for talc claims outside the US and Canada since its separation from J&J, has repeated the assertion that its talc products always complied with regulations on quality, never contained asbestos, and did not cause cancer.
In 2023, J&J took all its talc-based products off the market and replaced them with alternatives using cornstarch.
The new lawsuit treads familiar ground, including claiming that almost all talc – a natural, mined product – contains trace amounts of asbestos. J&J has long argued that all of its talc products have been asbestos-free since the 1970s, claiming that this has been demonstrated repeatedly in tests carried out in-house, as well as by regulators and independent laboratories.
The complaint also alleges that J&J knew that asbestos was present in Baby Powder and that the contaminant was linked to cancer, but never included warnings to that effect on product packaging.
The company is also accused of lobbying regulators to make sure its talc products remained on the market, for example, by pushing the FDA to accept lower sensitivity standards to demonstrate that they were talc-free, as well as sponsoring studies designed to downplay any health risks.
J&J has argued that evidence cited by the plaintiffs on testing refers to hypothetical models requested by the FDA, adding that "every method available to test J&J's talc for asbestos has been used by J&J, regulators, or independent experts – and all of these methods […] found that our cosmetic talc is asbestos-free."
It refutes any claims that it knowingly sold Baby Powder product containing asbestos.
In a statement, Kenvue said: "We sympathise deeply with people living with cancer. We understand that they and their families want answers – that's why the facts are so important. The safety of Johnson's Baby Powder is backed by years of testing by independent and leading laboratories, universities, and health authorities in the UK and around the world."
According to the BBC, KP Law has said that damages sought in the UK could extend to "hundreds of millions of pounds," which could make it the largest product liability case in UK history.
