A widower has filed a baby powder wrongful death lawsuit after losing his wife to ovarian cancer.

After a lifetime of using talcum powder products on her vaginal area on a daily basis, Sandra D. was diagnosed with ovarian cancer in September 2010. She died March 1, 2015.

Defendants in this baby powder wrongful death lawsuit include Johnson & Johnson, makers of Johnson’s Baby Powder and Shower to Shower powder. Defendant Imerys is a company that mined talc for Johnson & Johnson. CVS Pharmaceuticals is a named defendant as well.

Since 1893 when Johnson & Johnson developed Johnson’s Baby Powder, the product has been marketed as a “daily use powder intended to eliminate friction and absorb unwanted excess moisture on the skin for both babies and women,” says the baby powder wrongful death lawsuit.

Johnson & Johnson’s Shower to Shower body powder has been marketed to women throughout the U.S. since 1967. Marketing promoted the product as a way to “soothe skin that has been irritated from friction. Apply after a bikini wax to help reduce irritation and discomfort.”

Baby Powder Wrongful Death Lawsuit Alleges Companies Knew of Ovarian Cancer Link

The baby powder wrongful death lawsuit alleges the defendants knew as far back as 1972 that several studies demonstrated that “use of talc-based powder in the genital area correlated to a significant increased risk of ovarian cancer. Since 1972, there have been at least twenty-seven studies that reported an elevated risk for ovarian cancer with genital talc use.”

In 1971, research was published that indicated particles such as talc could “translocate from the exterior genital area to the ovaries in women.”

W.J. Henderson of Cardiff, Wales found talc particles inside 10 of 13 ovarian tumors when he conducted the first study linking talc and ovarian cancer in 1971.

In 1982, Dr. Daniel Cramer found a 92 percent increased risk in ovarian cancer in women who used talc in their genital areas. He also found that “talc application directly to the genital area around the time of ovulation might lead to talc particles becoming deeply embedded in the tissues of the ovary, and perhaps causing foreign body reaction capable of causing growth of epithelial ovarian tissue.

According to the baby powder wrongful death lawsuit, Dr. Cramer’s study “proved an epidemiologic association between the use of cosmetic talc in genital hygiene and ovarian cancer.”

In February 2006, the International Association for the Research of Cancer (IARC), part of the World Health Organization (WHO), declared the perineal use of talc-based powder to be a “Group 2B” human carcinogen.

The IARC found an increased risk of ovarian cancer of 30 to 60 percent among genital talc users. The IARC said between 16 and 52 percent of women worldwide were dusting their genital areas with talc-based powders.

The National Cancer Institute and American Cancer Society state that genital talc application is a risk factor for ovarian cancer.

Johnson & Johnson has never added a warning of the possibility of ovarian cancer risk and the use of its talc-based powders.

The Baby Powder Wrongful Death Lawsuit is Case No. 1:17-cv-00209-S-PAS in the U.S. District Court for the District of Rhode Island.