Johnson & Johnson baby powder causes cancer: Company fined 417 million US dollars

The study on which this lawsuit and order was based, was published way back in 1982.

A court has fined Johnson & Johnson after a study found that the company's talcum powder can potentially cause cancer.

A Los Angels jury fined the company 417 million US dollars after it found that it had failed to inform a 63 year old the potential risk of using the powder. The company has said it will appeal against the verdict.

The woman, Eva Echeverria, who has claimed to have been using the company's products since she was 11 and had used them till 2016, has been diagnosed with terminal stage of ovarian cancer, a news report said. The damages awarded to Echeverria are $70 million in compensatory damages and $347 million in punitive damages.

The study on which this lawsuit and order was based, was published way back in 1982. It said women who used the talcum powder on their genitals had a 92 per cent increased risk of developing ovarian cancer against those who didn't.

The news report has revealed that this wasn't the first lawsuit faced by the company. In fact, the company has been facing thousands of such suits, that too for a long time. This is the biggest verdict against the company so far.

OneIndia News