MAJOR BATTLE IN THE TALCUM POWDER WAR

I think this is a wedding picture

1982

I guess I should be tired of the OVCA-J&J-talcum powder war, but I guess I’m not. (J&J stands for Johnson & Johnson, which you already knew.) Lord knows the war has been going long enough – years, plenty of years.  So far the plaintiffs (women with OVCA who used talc) have won repeatedly, and been awarded tens of millions of dollars in compensation.  However, J&J has appealed these decisions and, invariably, I think, got them reversed.  Note that these amounts (tens of millions of dollars), are a rounding error in J&J’s annual report.

Now, however, a jury in St, Louis has awarded an assemblage of 22 women, suing together – is this class action? – 4.7 BILLION dollars in damages.  That got J&J’s attention!  Its stock dropped 3% on the news.  J&J will appeal, of course.

It may not have escaped your attention that only the lawyers are getting rich because of this war.

So what do I think?  Glad you asked.

First, the mineral talc and the mineral asbestos form under similar conditions, and (I am told) sometimes in proximity to one another.  Asbestos is a known carcinogen.

J&J claims to have evidence that their talcum powder is totally asbestos-free.  That should be easy to determine, I would think.

Clinical trials testing whether or not talc use and ovarian cancer are linked have given mixed results.  I may be wrong here, but my impression is that the “no correlation” verdicts are the more reliable.  Clearly, this is the moment that the FDA should step in, run the definitive trial, and end the war, one way or another.  Why they haven’t done so is a mystery to me.

Asbestos fibers have been found in OVCA tumors.  They may have come from baby powder, but there are other ways to ingest asbestos.  Still, suspicion remains.

SO, my considered opinion is that, if J&J officials knew that their product was unsafe, but went on pedaling it anyway, they should be shot.

HOWEVER, if it turns out that talcum powder actually is carcinogenic, but J&J had good reason to believe otherwise, then the company – which distributes many useful products – should NOT be sued out of existence, as happened with Johns Manville before them.

AND THE BOTTOM LINE, if I were a woman I would immediately switch to J&J’s talcum powder substitute made of corn starch.  And if I owned J&J stock, which I don’t, I would urge the company to stop selling real talcum powder, safe or not.  Time the lawyers made an honest living.

I almost forgot to give you the link.

https://www.npr.org/2018/07/13/628684038/jury-awards-4-7-billion-to-women-in-johnson-johnson-talcum-powder-suit