A federal judge dismissed a class action lawsuit against baby powder manufacturer Johnson & Johnson, in which the lead plaintiffs alleged that the company knew for more than 30 years that its baby powder carried a risk of ovarian cancer.

Lead plaintiffs Denis H. and Erin H. – who did not claim that they were diagnosed with ovarian cancer or suffered a personal injury from Johnson’s Baby Powder – sought damages for money purportedly lost by buying the powder in their baby powder cancer lawsuit.

U.S. District Court Judge Bonne White granted Johnson & Johnson’s motion to dismiss the class action lawsuit, finding that the plaintiffs could not show any damages suffered since the talc-based baby powder has multiple uses.

Johnson & Johnson remains 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.

Johnson & Johnson makes Johnson’s Baby Powder and Shower to Shower, both of which may contain talc.

It is believed 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 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 failing to warn consumers about the ovarian cancer risk.

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

In Denis and Erin’s baby powder class action lawsuit, they alleged that Johnson & Johnson had long known of the link between talcum powder and ovarian cancer but failed to warn consumers.

In their baby powder cancer lawsuit, the plaintiffs cited a 1982 article in The New York Times titled ‘Talcum Company Calls Study on Cancer Link Inconclusive,” in which Johnson & Johnson acknowledged that a Cramer study that same year found that women were three times more likely to contract ovarian cancer after daily use of talcum powder in the genital area.

A more recent American Cancer Society Study concluded that women who use baby powder with talc 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.

“One analysis combining data from 16 studies published before 2003 found about a 30 percent increase in ovarian risk among talc users,” the American Cancer Society reports.

“The average woman’s lifetime risk of ovarian cancer is about 1.4 percent, so even with a 30 percent increase, her lifetime risk would be about 1.8 percent. Still, talc is widely used in many products, so it is important to determine if the increased risk is real. Research in this area continues,” the group added.

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.