A jury from Missouri on Thursday passed the order to Johnson and Johnson about their need to pay a record amount of $4.69 billion to 22 women, who had alleged that the talc-based products of the company, which also includes the baby powder, has asbestos mixed and that have resulted in the development of ovarian cancer.
The organization is currently battling out around 9000 cases related to talc. Johnson & Johnson denied the allegations, saying that their talc products cannot cause cancer and they can never contain asbestos. They have gone on record saying that decades of studies related to this has shown that their talc is entirely safe and has also been successful in overturning previous verdicts on talc on technical legal grounds.
The verdict given by the jury was massive, which got handed down in the St. Louis’ Circuit Court of the City. The compensatory damages amounted to $550 million and $4.14 billion in charges for punitive damages.
Johnson & Johnson had termed the trial to be fundamentally unfair and said that they would appeal against the decision.
The women along with their families had said that usage of baby powder along with other cosmetic talc products for more than ten years had caused their disease. Their allegations against the company are that they feel, the company was aware of the fact that talc had got contaminated with asbestos since the time of the 1970s, but unfortunately, they have failed to send a warning to the consumers about the risks.
Through a statement, the company said that they are incredibly disappointed with the kind of verdict that has come out and that it was the result of an unfair process in an essential manner. They had sounded confident about the fact that the products do not contain asbestos or any substance, which after usage can lead to cancer.
Mark Lanier, who was the lawyer for women, opined that Johnson & Johnson must withdraw their products from the market before they cause further agitation, harm, and death through suffering from a terrible disease.
