Thousands of people in the UK claim that using talcum powder has given them cancer and are suing the manufacturer of Johnson’s baby powder.
The product has been used for decades, for babies and people of all ages to help absorb moisture when drying off.
Until recently, Johnson’s baby powder contained the mineral talc, which has been linked with a risk of causing cancer. Talc is also in some make-up products.
Claims against manufacturer Johnson & Johnson (J&J), as well as its subsidiary Kenvue Ltd, include that the talc in baby powder contained asbestos and that this has caused cases of ovarian cancer and mesothelioma, a kind of lung cancer. The lawsuit is being brought by brought by KP Law.
After similar court cases in the US – some of which have been settled, while others are ongoing – the litigation has spread to the UK with a claim involving 3,000 people.
Which products contain talc?
Talc is a mineral, found in rocks in the ground, which can be turned into soft powder. The particles can bind to water molecules, which is why talc has a drying effect. It has long been the main constituent of several brands of baby powder, and is an ingredient in cosmetics such as foundation, eye shadow and blusher to reduce caking and give a soft, silky texture.
What’s the link between talc and asbestos?
Talc can sometimes be contamined with another mineral, asbestos, which is often found in the ground near talc ore. “That means that when talc is is mined, it can become contaminated with asbestos fibres,” said Sophia Lowes, senior cancer intelligence manager at Cancer Research UK.
Asbestos is a known cause of cancer. It forms tiny fibres, which lodge in the lungs and do not dissolve so cannot be eliminated. “They induce an inflammatory response. Over time, some of the cells can become malignant,” said professor Bill Cookson, a lung specialist at Imperial College London.
Asbestos used to be widely used as a building material, but has been banned in nearly all countries because workers had higher rates of both lung cancer and cancer of the lining of the lung, called mesothelioma. This has a low survival rate. “It’s an awful cancer,” said professor Cookson.
Can talc itself cause cancer?
There have also been concerns that, even uncontamined by asbestos, talc itself can cause cancer, as can many other minerals. Last year a World Health Organization (WHO) cancer body concluded that talc should be classed as a “probable carcinogen”.
But that sounds worse than it is, said professor Kevin McConway, a statistician at The Open University. It doesn’t mean the WHO experts found talc does cause cancer, just that it has the potential to do so, “under some unspecified conditions”. There are other everyday things or activities on the same list that most people don’t think twice about, like fried food, shift work, and being a hairdresser. “It’s not a smoking gun,” said professor McConway.
Is there still a risk from baby powder?
The formulation of Johnson’s baby powder was changed in the US in 2020, so it is now made from corn starch, not talc. This switch also happened in the UK in 2023. But some other brands still sell talcum powder made from the mineral talc, and it is still in some make-up.
How strong is the evidence that talc-based baby powder was a risk?
There have been many studies investigating this question and they have given mixed results. It is a hard subject to research, said professor McConway.
Studies in humans tend to be “observational”, which means scientists observe the rates of cancer in people who were and weren’t exposed to a certain risk factor.
But such research is not seen as the best kind of medical evidence as it can give biased results. For instance, someone with ovarian cancer or mesothelioma might be more likely to remember their talc use, having seen claims that it could be a cause.
If there is an increased risk it seems to be relatively small. A recent observational study that tried to reduce bias – although it is hard to completely remove – gave an estimate that talc may raise the rate of ovarian cancer by about 40 per cent.
But as women’s starting risk of this kind of cancer is low – at about 1.1 per cent – this would only increase their lifetime risk up to 1.5 per cent.
If someone develops ovarian cancer and feels it is due to their past use of talc, it is impossible to know if this was indeed the cause, said professor Justin Stebbing, a cancer expert at Anglia Ruskin University in Cambridge. “It’s not like a smoker having 25 times the risk of getting lung cancer.”
How much should I worry?
“I would say the risk to an individual is incredibly low – this is something you only pick up in population-based studies,” said Stebbing.
“Do people need to be worried if they’ve used a bit of talc in the past? I would say no.”
But if someone has used a lot of talc and is concerned, he suggested they discuss their risk with a doctor. “If you’re going to be worried about every single thing [that could conceivably cause cancer] then you you might as well not eat or drink anything,” he said. “Life is for living.”
What do the manufacturers say?
J&J referred queries to Kenvue, which it said retained the responsibility and any purported liability for talc-related litigation. Kenvue said: “We sympathise deeply with people living with cancer.
“The safety of Johnson’s Baby Powder is backed by years of testing by independent and leading laboratories, universities, and health authorities in the UK and around the world.
“The high-quality cosmetic grade talc that was used in Johnson’s Baby Powder was compliant with any required regulatory standards, did not contain asbestos, and does not cause cancer.”
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