Asbestos May Be Only One of Many Dangerous Substances Found in Talc

Talc contains a dangerous cocktail mixture of minerals in addition to asbestos that could cause cancer and other diseases

Thursday, August 27, 2020 - Talc is one of the softest and smoothest minerals in the world and is the preferred ingredient in many cosmetic products and baby powders used by millions of people. Everyday talc consumers include teenagers and mothers when diapering their babies. Talc mined from the earth can not be mined alone, given its geographical location. Mining talc means also extracting a variety of other minerals that could be harmful to health, including the infamous asbestos, a known carcinogen. Both talc and asbestos mines sometimes overlap one another or are adjacent, and both rely on blasting operations in open pit mines adding to the possibility of cross-contamination. If asbestos could magically avoid talc mines, those talc mines would be the only business in the area to be so fortunate. Rates of mesothelioma, a fatal respiratory disease, are as high in the communities surrounding asbestos mines as they are for asbestos miners that are covered in asbestos every day. Talcum powder cancer lawsuit claims continue to be filed nationwide and experienced national attorneys are offering a free consultation, should your claim be accepted to file suit, the lawyers also work on a contingency basis.

Cosmetics Business.com recently addressed the talc problem by reporting about the mixture of dangerous fibers included in everyday talc. When speaking of talc, CB reported, "This compound material made up of naturally occurring fibrous minerals, composed of needle-like fibers that fall into two categories: amphibole and serpentine. In these two categories, there are six types of asbestiform varieties: chrysotile, crocidolite, amosite, anthophyllite, tremolite, and actinolite, as defined by the US' The Asbestos Hazard Emergency Response Act (AHERA)."

All of the organic mineral fibers found in talc deposits have the characteristics of being small and light enough to become airborne and ingested by breathing or landing on a human's mucous membrane in the mouth, eye, or genital opening. These fibers have a "needle-like" shape. When they do come into contact with lung tissue they cause microscopic cuts that bleed. That burning sensation in the lungs is from the tissues that were lacerated. The cuts heal naturally, however, scar tissue forms. If one repeatedly breathes these razor-sharp fibers the cuts and scar tissue builds-up to the point where the lungs become so inelastic that a person can not inhale and exhale normally and eventually develop pneumonia or otherwise suffocate to death. The more times a surface like the lungs or ovaries are lacerated, the more times infection can occur and the constant irritation can lead to developing cancer. Asbestos and other dangerous fibers can not be removed from talc after contamination and the FDA says there is no safe level of ingesting these fibers.

Thousands of trials accusing Johnson's Baby Powder of causing cancer hinge on the definition of asbestos and what fibers contained in talc can cause cancer. According to Legal Newsline, "The fight is over "elongate mineral particles," which an FDA-organized panel, the Interagency Working Group on Asbestos in Consumer Products, has proposed defining as any mineral with an aspect, or length-to-width ratio, of 3:1 or more."