{"id":28613,"date":"2024-11-20T07:19:29","date_gmt":"2024-11-20T12:19:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/worldjusticenews.com\/news\/?p=28613"},"modified":"2024-11-20T07:19:29","modified_gmt":"2024-11-20T12:19:29","slug":"women-plan-uk-legal-action-against-pharmaceutical-company-johnson-johnson-over-talcum-powder-cancer-claims","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/worldjusticenews.com\/news\/2024\/11\/20\/women-plan-uk-legal-action-against-pharmaceutical-company-johnson-johnson-over-talcum-powder-cancer-claims\/","title":{"rendered":"Women plan UK legal action against pharmaceutical company Johnson & Johnson over talcum powder cancer claims"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Hundreds of women in the UK are planning to take on one of the world’s biggest pharmaceutical companies over alleged links between talc and cancer.<\/b><\/p>\n

Diagnosed with ovarian cancer in 2021, Cassandra Wardle is one of the women launching a group action against the biggest seller of talcum powder, Johnson & Johnson (J&J).<\/p>\n

Cassandra, who stumbled on a Facebook article linking cancer and talc following her diagnosis, said it was used on her as a baby and she continued to use it “for 20 years or more”.<\/p>\n

“You mimic your mum who used it,” she said. “Baby powder was supposed to be something deemed ‘safe to use’, even on a baby’s bum.”<\/p>\n

If it proceeds, the legal action would be the first of its kind brought against the pharmaceutical multinational in the UK.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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With 1,900 potential claimants, including cancer patients, survivors and families, lawyers say it is set to be the largest pharmaceutical product group action in English and Welsh legal history.<\/p>\n

The BBC has spoken to a number of women with gynaecological cancers – many are part of the group action – who believe their repeated use of talcum powder played a part in their diagnosis.<\/p>\n

Their lawyers allege that for decades, talcum powder was contaminated with cancer-causing asbestos – something they claim J&J was aware of but sought to suppress.<\/p>\n

J&J denies suppressing any information and denies any links between its baby powder, asbestos and cancer.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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\"Cassandra<\/picture><\/span><\/div>
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Cassandra said the worst part of her diagnosis was having to tell her husband and her parents (Image: Cassandra Wardle)<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n

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“The doctors said the cancer was unusual for my age at 44,” says Cassandra, from Alfreton in Derbyshire.<\/p>\n

She says she would regularly use talcum powder after a bath or as a deodoriser, including across her genitals.<\/p>\n

“I was just starting my chemo journey when I read about the links, but I felt enraged that a corporate giant like J&J could seem to do this,” she says.<\/p>\n

At first, doctors believed Cassandra’s cancer was terminal.<\/p>\n

“I went to the consultation alone,” she says. “So I had to come home and tell my husband what they said, tell my parents they would be burying me.<\/p>\n

“I closed down my business unit and laid off staff.<\/p>\n

“I even created a not-so-creative acronym: ‘LAC – Life After Cass’.”<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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\"Cassandra<\/picture><\/span><\/div>\n
Cassandra had several rounds of chemotherapy to tackle her cancer (Image: Cassandra Wardle)<\/span><\/div>\n<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n
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Then, she had an unexpected lifeline. Chemotherapy had in fact triggered an autoimmune condition, giving the impression of late-stage cancer.<\/p>\n

Cassandra survived. But the disease still had a devastating effect on her life.<\/p>\n

She was forced to give up her business, and an infection during chemotherapy damaged her vocal cords, reducing her voice to a whisper. A hysterectomy to remove cancerous tissue had a huge impact on her body.<\/p>\n

“I was plunged into surgical menopause,” she says.<\/p>\n

“I would have liked children. I was never blessed that way, but my last ability to have children was taken away due to cancer.”<\/p>\n