Like many women who grew up with the old hygiene tale that you need to put baby powder in your underwear to be fresh, Jacqueline Fox a Birmingham, Alabama mom did too. Religiously and regularly.
The sad part is that Fox eventually died from Ovarian cancer which has been linked to abestos found in talc which was included in Johnson & Johnson‘s Baby powder for years.
Earlier this year, a St. Louis, Missouri jury awarded Fox’s family a $72 Milion wrongful death verdict because the jury ascertained that despite knowing the research of the dangers of talc, the company continued to include it and profit from Talc’s presence in Johnson & Johnson’s powder and other feminine hygiene products.
The suit was part of a broader class action claim, AP reported.
AP pointed to a 1997 internal memo from a company medical consultant said “anybody who denies” the risk of using hygienic talc and ovarian cancer is “denying the obvious in the face of all evidence to the contrary.”
This month, a few outlets reported on how the company profited from myths about hygiene and put communities, like the African American one, at increased risk because of widely held beliefs among its members about baby powder for hygiene.
Fox was African American.
Also, a popular Shower to Shower brand ad in 1988 stated “just a sprinkle a day keeps odor away.” Others reminded women: “Your body perspires in more places than just under your arms.”
There are 1,200 pending lawsuits over the company’s talcum powder, USA Today notes.
For a while now, pediatrician have told new moms to avoid using talcum powder on their babies to keep them dry and fresh though newer versions of baby powder no longer contain talc.
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