An asbestos cancer lawsuit brought by 22 women recently began in a Missouri state court over claims that pharmaceutical giant Johnson & Johnson’s talcum powder products caused the plaintiffs’ ovarian cancer diagnoses. The claim alleges that the plaintiffs’ years of use of Johnson & Johnson’s talc-based products caused their cancer diagnoses and that the defendant knew for years about the risk of injury but did nothing to warn the public.
According to the asbestos cancer lawsuit, filed in Circuit Court of the City of St. Louis, the 22 female plaintiffs and the representatives of their estates claim that their years of using Johnson & Johnson’s products like Baby Powder and Shower to Shower caused their ovarian cancer diagnoses. The lawsuit alleges that the talc used to make these products was contaminated with asbestos during the mining and is therefore the causal link between using Johnson & Johnson’s products and developing the disease.
Talc and asbestos are both naturally occurring minerals often found in deposits adjacent to one another, which can lead to talc contamination if care is not taken to separate the two substances during mining. Although federal law has required talc to be asbestos-free for many decades now, plaintiffs in talcum powder asbestos lawsuits allege that independent testing shows the talc sourced for Johnson & Johnson products still contains asbestos to this day.
In addition to allegations that asbestos caused the ovarian cancer diagnoses of the plaintiffs in this case, thousands of other women across the country have filed their own talcum powder cancer lawsuits against Johnson & Johnson. Furthermore, plaintiffs across the country have filed lawsuits against Johnson & Johnson claiming that they developed mesothelioma cancer as a result of the asbestos allegedly in the company’s talcum powder products.
Johnson & Johnson recently lost a pair of asbestos talcum powder lawsuits in New Jersey. In both of those cases, the juries chose to award punitive damages to the plaintiffs in order to punish Johnson & Johnson for what the jury found to be especially egregious behavior for knowingly producing talcum powder products that contained deadly asbestos fibers. The combined awards handed down by the juries in those cases totaled more than $142 million in compensatory and punitive damages.
Mesothelioma is a rare form of cancer directly linked to asbestos exposure. The disease can take several decades to show symptoms, known as the latency period, and commonly affects the thin linings of tissue surrounding vital organs like the lungs, abdomen, and heart. Due to the long latency period, mesothelioma patients often have diminished treatment options, which can complicate the prognosis of their condition.
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If you or a loved one were diagnosed with mesothelioma, contact our office to speak to one of our experienced nationwide mesothelioma attorneys about your situation. Our office can help investigate your case and determine if compensation can be sought from negligent parties to help pay for your medical treatment to help you and your family live a more comfortable life.
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