Johnson & Johnson is being hit with a mesothelioma damage award of $80 million after a New Jersey court determined the company should have warned that its talc products could be contaminated with asbestos.

This mesothelioma damage award will be distributed to the plaintiff who filed the product liability claim and other designated parties who allege the company’s talcum powder products caused devastating lung cancer.

Approximately $37 million of the mesothelioma damage award will be awarded as compensation to plaintiff Stephen L. and his wife who were also awarded additional damages from the jury.

The jury awarded an increased mesothelioma damage award after finding Johnson & Johnson “acted with reckless indifference” and ultimately contributed to the claimant’s mesothelioma diagnosis. During the closing arguments, the plaintiff’s lawyers reportedly encouraged jurors to express their concern regarding Johnson & Johnson talcum powder products.

The lawyers advised jurors to state these concerns in a “loud voice,” asking Johnson & Johnson to stop selling talc based baby powder.

“Your voice should be loud. It should be so loud that all the arguments that they make cannot drown out your voice. They should not be heard to tell you that you’re wrong. [T]hey should not be heard to say we hear you, but nothing changes,” said the lawyer for the plaintiff.

The jury ultimately ordered Johnson & Johnson to pay $55 million in damages, while the talc mining company Imerys Talc America Inc. was ordered to pay $25 million.

Stephen was ultimately given a mesothelioma damage award of $30 million and his wife received $7 million, with the jury assigning approximately 70 percent of the liability to Johnson & Johnson for aggressively marketing the product and failing to warn the general public of their products’ alleged dangerous nature.

Overview of Talcum Powder and Asbestos Disease Correlation

Talc has been associated with asbestos in recent years and has been linked to instances of ovarian cancer in women who used the powder for feminine hygiene purposes. While talc is generally considered a safe material by the FDA, research has found that some mined talc could potentially be contaminated with a form of amphibole asbestos known as tremolite.

This form of asbestos is related to “blue” or crocidolite asbestos and “brown” or amosite asbestos, which have been classified as the most carcinogenic of the asbestos types. Asbestos and talc are sometimes collected together during mining, as both are formed through the same geologic process and are forms of magnesium silicate.

While talc now undergoes inspection before being ground down and marketed, some talc miners have reportedly developed serious health problems associated with asbestos exposure. This correlation was indicated in 2000 when a Seattle paper reported that there was tremolite asbestos present at a talc mining site in Virginia.

Asbestos has been linked to serious health problems in manufacturing and construction. Additionally, United States Navy veterans have allegedly been exposed to the material on a regular basis. When asbestos is inhaled, the fibers can become lodged in the mucus lining of the lungs and the worker can eventually develop mesothelioma.

Mesothelioma can take up to 50 years before progressing to the point where the victim experiences symptoms. At this point, there are limited treatment options for the patient.