Mesothelioma Lawsuits Related to Talc Powder are Heading to Trial

SOUTH CAROLINA- Blog.CVN.com writes that a lawsuit filed against Johnson & Johnson is going to trial in South Carolina this May. The lawsuits claim that J&J’s talc-based products, including their baby powder and Shower to Shower, are responsible for causing mesothelioma.

Mesothelioma is typically associated with asbestos, and deadly cancer led to the largest mass tort litigation the United States has ever seen, with more than 700,000 people suing thousands of companies.

A plaintiff in New Jersey was recently awarded a $117 million in a lawsuit in which he claimed he developed mesothelioma because the talc in J&J’s products contained asbestos. New lawsuits add RiteAid as a defendant along with J&J and Imerys, which is a supplier of talc that sells to J&J.

J&J has faced other lawsuits related to their talc products, including thousands of talc lawsuits that were filed because women claim the talc led to ovarian cancer after they applied it to their genitals.

Talc is a mineral that is present in the ground and must be mined. Asbestos can be deposited in the ground near talc, leading to the talc being contaminated by asbestos. Still, J&J and other defendants have argued that talc itself is not linked to any forms of cancer and that their products do not contain asbestos fibers.

The defendants also argue that the miners working to extract talc do not show increased rates of mesothelioma. In past cases, defendants have claimed that the plaintiffs could have been exposedto asbestos in other ways. These arguments will likely be used in future cases as well.