A woman who applied talcum-based baby powder every day for nearly 50 years claims in a lawsuit that the talc caused her to get ovarian cancer.

Judith H. dusted baby powder in her genital area from 1964 until 2013, according to her baby powder ovarian cancer lawsuit, filed in January. She accuses Johnson & Johnson, Imerys Talc America, Personal Care Products Council, formerly known as Luzenac America Inc., and Walgreens of knowing that talc carried a risk associated with ovarian cancer yet failed to warn consumers.

Her claims include failure to warn, negligence, breach of warranty and civil conspiracy.

Johnson & Johnson sells Johnson’s Baby Powder and Shower-to-Shower body powder, both of which contain talc. Imerys Talc America and Luzenac America are the talc mining companies that supply talc to the manufacturer, and retailer Walgreens sold Judith the products. Walgreens, she maintains, was negligent in failing to warn the public about the known risks between ovarian cancer and talc-based powders and for failing to make consumers aware that they should limit perineal exposure to the powders.

In her baby powder cancer lawsuit, Judith cites a 1971 study, the first of many, showing the nexus between talc and ovarian cancer. Another study, from 1982, found a 92 percent increased risk of ovarian cancer from talcum powder use for genital hygiene, and 22 additional studies provided similar findings.

Johnson & Johnson is a defendant in a number of baby powder cancer lawsuits filed on behalf of women who have been diagnosed with ovarian cancer after using talcum powder for “intimate personal hygiene” in their genital area.

Many experts believe that talcum powder particles can migrate from the vagina to the ovaries after being applied to the genital area on sanitary napkins, diaphragms or condoms. To reach the ovaries, the particles would travel through the uterus and fallopian tubes.

In 2013, a federal jury found that Johnson & Johnson’s talc-based powders played a role in the 2006 ovarian cancer diagnosis of a woman who used the powders every day for 30 years. She sued the company for negligence and failure to warn consumers about the risk.

Jurors reached their decision after hearing from three different doctors who examined extracted cancerous tissues and concluded that talc particles caused the cancer.

An American Cancer Society study found that women who use talc-based baby powder have a 30 percent increased risk of developing ovarian cancer.

While lab studies exposing rats, mice, and hamsters to asbestos-free talc have resulted in mixed outcomes – some showing tumor formation, others not finding anything – some human studies report an elevated risk.

Another study has suggested genital talcum powder use may slightly increase the risk of endometrial (uterine) cancer in post-menopausal women.

A Harvard epidemiologist has estimated that talcum powder in the genital area leads to 45 percent – or some 10,000 – of the annual ovarian cancer diagnoses. Approximately 22,240 women in 2013 would be diagnosed with the disease and 14,030 of them would die of it that same year.