London — Hundreds of individuals in the UK have filed a joint authorized declare estimated to be price 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 entails greater than 3,000 individuals who developed varied types of most cancers and different illnesses and relies on inner Johnson & Johnson memos and scientific experiences.
The corporate has lengthy fought hundreds of comparable circumstances in the US, and regardless of profitable some appeals, in June final yr it agreed to pay $700 million in a nationwide settlement to resolve allegations that it misled prospects concerning the security of its talcum-based powder merchandise in its advertising and marketing.
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 available on the market in pursuit of revenue.”
Regardless of the alleged information 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 based mostly 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,” mentioned the claimants’ lead lawyer, Tom Longstaff of KP Legislation, which has introduced the case in opposition to J&J and Kenvue Ltd., which was spun off two years in the past, earlier than the U.Okay. Excessive Courtroom. “The information are clear, contaminated talc incorporates carcinogenic materials and Johnson & Johnson knew the danger to shoppers.”
“The dimensions of Johnson & Johnson’s company wrongdoing is extraordinary, and we shall be relentless in holding them to account on behalf of all those that have suffered as a result of their actions,” Longstaff mentioned.
In a press release despatched to CBS Information on Thursday, Johnson & Johnson mentioned inquiries concerning the declare “could be greatest addressed by Kenvue, our former client well being enterprise, which separated from Johnson & Johnson in August 2023. As part of that separation, Kenvue retained the duty and any purported legal responsibility for talc associated litigation outdoors of the US and Canada.”
Kenvue advised the BBC in a press release that it sympathized “deeply with individuals residing with most cancers. We perceive that they and their households need solutions — that is why the information are so necessary,” including that the protection of its child powder was backed by testing by “impartial and main laboratories, universities, and well being authorities within the U.Okay. and world wide” over years.
The corporate advised BBC that the J&J child powder “was compliant with any required regulatory requirements, didn’t include asbestos, and doesn’t trigger most cancers.”
Talc is a naturally occurring mineral that’s usually discovered along with asbestos throughout the mining course of, which makes eliminating all traces of asbestos from talcum powder tough.
The declare alleges individuals who recurrently 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 illnesses.
“My mom used it and I used it,” 63-year previous Siobhan Ryan advised CBS Information’ information associate community BBC Information. “It smelled good and was mushy and beautiful. When my infants have been born I used it on them. I believed I used to be doing my greatest 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 advised 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 stomach surgical procedure. Medical doctors 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 mentioned.
Based on the U.Okay. declare, Johnson & Johnson started within the Sixties to fee scientists to research its talc-based merchandise. In 1969, an inner memo said that till tremolite — certainly one of six sorts of asbestos — was confirmed to haven’t any opposed 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 every one types of asbestos have been harmful and will trigger most cancers, however Johnson & Johnson — and different corporations — 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 shall be determined by a decide, moderately than a jury, on the U.Okay. Excessive Courtroom’s Manchester Circuit Industrial Courtroom.
In a press release, Kenvue mentioned it believes the decide will discover that its talc-based powder didn’t trigger most cancers.
Editor’s be aware: This text has been up to date to appropriate the attribution of the assertion from Kenvue Ltd. to BBC Information and to notice that it’s a separate firm from J&J, not a subsidiary.
