USA – According to an online news report on WHTC.com, top makeup and cosmetic brands like L’Oreal, Revlon, and Chanel, are silently moving away from talcum powder in some of their products due to the number of cancer lawsuits and the public’s awareness and concerns escalate. Revlon Incorporated eliminated talcum powder from its body product […]
USA – According to an online news report on WHTC.com, top makeup and cosmetic brands like L’Oreal, Revlon, and Chanel, are silently moving away from talcum powder in some of their products due to the number of cancer lawsuits and the public’s awareness and concerns escalate. Revlon Incorporated eliminated talcum powder from its body product line. L’Oreal SA is investigating new options to replace talcum powder from its products, according to the news article. Chanel has pulled talcum powder from their loose face powder, and the company abandoned its talcum powder body powder due to the negative news reported about talc powder.
Talc is a mineral that is ground into a fine powder called talcum powder. Talc is a mineral that is used in thousands of personal care and cosmetic products because of talc’s ability to add softness, prevent caking, and absorb moisture. The talc mineral is often discovered and mined from the same rock formation as the carcinogen asbestos. The mining process usually cannot prevent some asbestos from contaminating the raw talc that is being mined. Asbestos is the only known cause of a rare, incurable cancer called mesothelioma. Mesothelioma causes cancer to form on the inner lining of the lungs as well as other bodily organs. Talcum powder cancer lawsuits have alleged that talcum powder often contains a cancerous impurity – asbestos. Those asbestos contamination allegations began in 2017. Talcum powder cancer lawsuits filed against Johnson & Johnson, the global market leader in talcum powder-based body powders, started back in 2013.
In 2018, a Reuters news investigation stated that Johnson & Johnson was aware for many decades that its talcum powder products contained some traces of asbestos. Johnson & Johnson has denied the allegations in that Reuters’ news report, and the company has always maintained talcum-based powders are safe to use, and their products are free from asbestos. However, in recent news, Johnson & Johnson has declared that the company would stop selling talcum-based Baby Powder in Canada, and the United States due to declining sales and public concerns.
In March of 2018, a Chanel representative confessed in a court deposition that Chanel stopped manufacturing its talc-based body powder, scented with its No. 5 fragrance in 2017. This product had been on the market in 1924. The deposition was part of a talcum powder cancer case in California. The lawsuit alleged that a woman from California developed deadly cancer called mesothelioma, and she developed the rare cancer due to using asbestos-tainted products manufactured by Johnson & Johnson and Chanel for decades.
Consumers around the world are expected to buy 139,000 tons of talc in 2020. In 2019, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration conducted an analysis of over 50 talc-based cosmetic products. The FDA discovered asbestos in nine consumer products.
The FDA is examining 50 additional samples in 2020, and the FDA is contemplating the development of an asbestos testing standard. The Canadian Health Ministry provisionally concluded that talc alone could cause ovarian cancer when used in the genital area and lung problems if the powder is inhaled. A final ruling might lead to a restriction or ban on the use of talc in some consumer products in Canada.
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