Baby Powder Ovarian Cancer Bellwether Trials Are Proceeding as Planned

Plaintiff Attorneys are preparing supporting documents for Johnson's Baby Powder, ovarian cancer trials

Monday, July 20, 2020 - Johnson's Baby Powder ovarian cancer trials are moving forward as we are coming to the 90-day deadline since the May 26, 2020 court order mandating plaintiff attorneys to provide medical records, death certificates, and consent forms. A federal judge will select from a pool of 1000 randomly-selected plaintiffs to act as bellwether trials in multi-district litigation. Each plaintiff alleges having developed ovarian cancer from using Johnson's Baby Powder regularly and for years in various forms of feminine hygiene. District Judge Freda L. Wolfson will decide which cases will be used and also recently decided that critical plaintiff expert witness testimony could be presented at trial. There are currently upward of 20,000 plaintiffs that accuse Johnson's Baby Powder of causing ovarian cancer of mesothelioma of the stomach and lungs. Talcum powder cancer attorneys offer a free consultation to families and individuals suffering from ovarian cancer or mesothelioma cancer before filing a lawsuit claim.

In anticipation of the flood of litigation to come, Johnson & Johnson announced last month that they would be discontinuing sales of their iconic Johnson's Baby Powder in the lucrative North American market. The company did not admit that its talc supply was contaminated with asbestos rather called the discontinuation part of a general product line restructuring due to the Coronavirus. Johnson & Johnson has not recalled the millions of bottles of baby powder that are already on store shelves. The company explained that the move to discontinue sales was to address the decreased demand from unwarranted adverse publicity and that the company continues to stand by the product being safe, pure, and asbestos-free. Johnson & Johnson did recall 33,000 bottles of Johnson's Baby Powder earlier in 2020 when the US Food and Drug Administration tested and found asbestos, a known carcinogen, in previously unopened, factory-sealed bottles of powder purchased from collectors over the internet. At the time, a spokesperson told reporters that the recall was out of an "abundance of caution."

Experts question the company's motives for pulling the product, however, since the move will cost billions of dollars in lost sales and destroy the Johnson's Baby Powder brand loyalty that took an entire century to build. Until the talcum powder asbestos scare that began in earnest a few years back, one would be hard-pressed to find a more well-established consumer product brand. The company will continue to sell the product in the vast market of the subcontinent of India and other parts of the world where the consumer is predominately black and presumably uninformed as to the legal decisions that have plagued the company. Johnson & Johnson is accused of racist marketing practices by M. Isabelle Chaudry, senior policy manager at the National Women's Health Network. Chaudry told Democracy Now, "the company must ban the products globally and do more to address the harm it has caused, particularly to communities of color. "They have a history of engaging in racist practices," she says.

Johnson & Johnson's decision to discontinue sales comes at a time when a federal judge in Missouri confirmed the jury's verdict that alleged that 22 women plaintiffs developed ovarian cancer from using Johnson's Baby Powder on the perineum or sprinkled on sanitary napkins.