US Supreme Court rejects J&J’s appeal of $2.1 billion penalty in carcinogenic talc case

The US Supreme Court on Tuesday (1 June) rejected Johnson & Johnson’s appeal of $2.1 billion penalty over allegations that its talcum powder products, including their baby talc products, contain a carcinogenic called asbestos. The rejection was given without any further comment. The company has faced more than 21,800 lawsuits regarding this issue.

Asbestos is a group of six naturally occurring minerals that is only allowed to be used as long as it accounts for less than 1% of the product. Exposure to asbestos may cause cancer as it is carcinogenic in nature.

Johnson & Johnson’s in February announced that it was covering almost $4 billion to cover St. Louis verdict, which found that the company’s talc-based powder helped cause ovarian cancer in 20 women. Jurors in the St. Louis case awarded each woman $25 million in compensation and added $4 billion in punitive damages. The company also pulled their product off American and Canadian shelves in 2019.

Ken Starr, the legal representative of the, noted that the pharmaceutical company is aware of the use of asbestos in their products for decades. He wrote in his brief, “They could have protected customers by switching from talc to cornstarch, as their own scientists proposed as early as 1973. But talc was cheaper and petitioners were unwilling to sacrifice profits for a safer product.”