London — Hundreds of individuals in the UK have filed a joint authorized declare estimated to be value greater than £1 billion ($1.34 billion) in opposition to Johnson & Johnson, accusing the U.S. pharmaceutical big of promoting child powder that it knew was contaminated with carcinogenic asbestos.
The declare includes greater than 3,000 individuals who developed varied types of most cancers and different ailments and is predicated on inner Johnson & Johnson memos and scientific studies.
The corporate has lengthy fought hundreds of comparable circumstances in america, and regardless of successful some appeals, in June final yr it agreed to pay $700 million in a nationwide settlement to resolve allegations that it misled clients in regards to the security of its talcum-based powder merchandise in its advertising.
Simply final week, a Los Angeles jury ordered the agency to pay $966 million to the household of a lady who died from a type of most cancers after utilizing J&J merchandise.
The U.Okay. lawsuit, which covers the years 1965 to 2023, claims that Johnson & Johnson, “knew their talc merchandise contained carcinogenic fibres, together with asbestos, for greater than fifty years and selected to maintain it in the marketplace in pursuit of revenue.”
Regardless of the alleged data of the carcinogens in its merchandise, the agency solely took its talcum powder merchandise off cabinets in Britain in 2023, the swimsuit alleges, when it switched to a cornstarch primarily based product — three years after doing so in Canada and the U.S.
“For many years Johnson & Johnson have orchestrated a marketing campaign of denials and subterfuge,” stated the claimants’ lead lawyer, Tom Longstaff of KP Legislation, which has introduced the case in opposition to J&J and a subsidiary, Kenvue Ltd., earlier than the U.Okay. Excessive Courtroom. “The info are clear, contaminated talc incorporates carcinogenic materials and Johnson & Johnson knew the chance to shoppers.”
“The size of Johnson & Johnson’s company wrongdoing is extraordinary, and we might be relentless in holding them to account on behalf of all those that have suffered on account of their actions,” Longstaff stated.
In a press release despatched to CBS Information on Thursday, Johnson & Johnson stated inquiries in regards to the declare “could be finest addressed by Kenvue, our former shopper well being enterprise, which separated from Johnson & Johnson in August 2023. As part of that separation, Kenvue retained the accountability and any purported legal responsibility for talc associated litigation outdoors of america and Canada.”
Kenvue instructed the BBC in a press release that it sympathized “deeply with folks residing with most cancers. We perceive that they and their households need solutions — that is why the info are so vital,” including that the security of its child powder was backed by testing by “impartial and main laboratories, universities, and well being authorities within the U.Okay. and all over the world” over years.
The corporate instructed BBC that the J&J child powder “was compliant with any required regulatory requirements, didn’t comprise asbestos, and doesn’t trigger most cancers.”
Talc is a naturally occurring mineral that’s typically discovered along with asbestos throughout the mining course of, which makes eliminating all traces of asbestos from talcum powder troublesome.
The declare alleges individuals who frequently used Johnson & Johnson talcum powders have developed, and in lots of circumstances died from, ovarian most cancers, mesothelioma — one other type of most cancers — uterine fibroids and different ailments.
“My mom used it and I used it,” 63-year previous Siobhan Ryan instructed CBS Information’ information companion community BBC Information. “It smelled good and was delicate and wonderful. When my infants have been born I used it on them. I believed I used to be doing my finest for them … It was such a shock. We simply hugged and cried. I could not consider what I used to be listening to when the physician instructed me I had stage-four ovarian most cancers.”
Siobhan, who blames her most cancers on Johnson & Johnson’s child powder, has been via three rounds of chemotherapy, near-fatal sepsis, and main belly surgical procedure. Docs say her most cancers is now not operable.
“They knew it was contaminated and nonetheless they bought it to new mums and their infants,” she stated.
In line with the U.Okay. declare, Johnson & Johnson started within the Nineteen Sixties to fee scientists to research its talc-based merchandise. In 1969, an inner memo said that till tremolite — considered one of six varieties of asbestos — was confirmed to don’t have any hostile results, its use ought to be minimized, and famous that talc may now not be assured to be protected for infants.
By the Eighties, it was broadly accepted that each one types of asbestos have been harmful and will trigger most cancers, however Johnson & Johnson — and different companies — efficiently lobbied the U.S. Meals and Drug Administration to not regulate asbestos content material in talc, in keeping with the lawsuit.
In 2018, the FDA lastly started testing talcum powder and different associated merchandise for asbestos. A yr later, Johnson & Johnson voluntarily withdrew a batch of its powder after the FDA discovered asbestos fibers in a pattern.
The U.Okay. claims might be determined by a decide, fairly than a jury, on the U.Okay. Excessive Courtroom’s Manchester Circuit Industrial Courtroom.
In a press release issued behalf of Johnson & Johnson, the corporate stated it believes the decide will discover that its talc-based powder didn’t trigger most cancers.
Editor’s word: This text has been up to date to appropriate the attribution of the assertion from Kenvue Ltd. to BBC Information.
