A Missouri jury ordered Johnson & Johnson to pay $72 million to the family of Jacqueline Fox after ruling her ovarian cancer — which claimed her life — was linked to her use of the company's talc products.
During the trial, Fox's attorneys
presented a 1997 internal memo written by a Johnson & Johnson medical consultant “suggesting that the risk between hygenic talc use and ovarian cancer were similar to the link between smoking cigarettes and cancer.
According to the
FDA's webpage on Talc, concerns about the potential contamination of talc with asbestos have been raised since the 1970s. And when the FDA tried to further investigate the link, less than half of the talc suppliers complied with the FDA and provided samples for the study.
Asbestos doesn't belong in our self care products. Sign this petition and urge the FDA to keep asbestos out of talc!To the US Food and Drug Administration:
The recent Missouri lawsuit involving Johnson & Johnson has made me concerned about the presence of asbestos in talc.
Jacqueline Fox lost her battle with ovarian cancer, which may have been caused by talc in Johnson & Johnson's products. Talc is present in many other health and beauty products, and your website suggests there have been concerns about the presence of asbestos in talc since the 1970s.
And despite your request to test talc from leading suppliers, only five of the nine companies complied and provided samples for your department to study. The FDA knows that asbestos is a carcinogen, but failed to require that companies use only asbestos-free talc in their products.
As a concerned consumer, I strongly urge you to immediately require that all cosmetic talc be asbestos-free.
[your comment here]
Sincerely,
[your name]
