This is the second unfavorable verdict for J&J, which last February paid 72 million dollars to another victim. The company will have to pay the sum as compensation after the allegations made regarding the correlation between their talcum powder and the onset of ovarian cancer.
Bad blow for Johnson & Johnson, a well-known pharmaceutical company that produces drugs, medical equipment and products for personal care and self-medication since 1886. The US multinational will in fact have to pay a maxi compensation of 55 million dollars to an American woman. This was decided last Monday by a jury in St. Louis (Missouri) which established that the company will have to pay the sum as compensation after the accusations made regarding the correlation between their talcum powder and the onset of ovarian cancer.
This is the second unfavorable verdict for J&J, which last February was ordered to pay 72 million dollars to the family of an Alabama woman, Jackie Fox, who died following ovarian cancer, who had sued the company arguing that the disease and therefore the death it had been caused by products containing talc. In addition, the company is facing about 1,200 lawsuits alleging that it failed to inform users about the risks associated with its talc-based products.
Through spokeswoman Carol Goodrich, J&J but he said that he will appeal both decisions, which he believes are contrary to the results of decades of research supporting the safety of talc. The company recalled that the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) have not identified talc as a risk factor for ovarian cancer. “Unfortunately, the decision of the jury goes against 30 years of studies by medical experts around the world who continue to support the safety of cosmetic talc,” the spokeswoman said in a statement. “For more than 100 years, Johnson & Johnson has provided consumers with a safe choice for cosmetic powder products and we will continue to work hard to exceed consumer expectations,” Goodrich said.
Of a completely different opinion is Jim Onder, Gloria Ristesund's lawyer, a South Dakota woman who also blamed the company – and especially their flagship product: baby powder – for her ovarian cancer. Ristesund's attorney says researchers began linking talcum powder to ovarian cancer as early as the 1970s, and internal Johnson & Johnson documents showed the company had known about it for some time. Indeed, the judges agreed with the victims.
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