A new lawsuit has been filed in which the plaintiff claims her development of ovarian cancer and baby powder was linked.

Plaintiff Connie T. is a citizen and resident of North Carolina. She alleges she was introduced to and used Johnson & Johnson’s Baby Powder and Shower to Shower products while living in New York from 1973 to 2000.

Connie says she used both of these talc-based products for feminine hygiene purposes on the perineal area daily. She claims in the narrative of her ovarian cancer and baby powder lawsuit that this was a legitimate application for the products given the company’s advertising campaigns which were targeted toward women.

Connie says that the pharmaceutical and household product giant used phrases like, “Your body perspires in more places than just under your arms’ and ‘a sprinkle a day keeps the odor away.”

While still living in New York on Dec. 14, 2006, Connie was formally diagnosed with ovarian cancer. Baby powder use on the genital region was mentioned as a high risk factor, she says. She was 53-years old at the time of diagnosis when she first learned of studies linking ovarian cancer and baby powder use dating back to the early 1970s.

Studies Connecting Ovarian Cancer and Baby Powder Use

The first study on record whose generated data demonstrated a possible connection between the development of ovarian cancer and baby powder use on the perineal area was undertaken in 1971 in Cardiff, Wales. The physician which headed up this investigation was Dr. W. J. Henderson.

Eleven years later, an epidemiological study was started and evaluated by Dr. Daniel Cramer. The aim was to further investigate whether the data indicating a relationship between a diagnosis of ovarian cancer and baby powder use on genital region was viable.

The results of this undertaking were astounding, with a statistical analysis showing a 92 percent increase in ovarian cancer development risk among women that had regularly applied to baby powder to their external genitalia.

According to the lawsuit’s report, one of the physicians from the Johnson & Johnson Company came to visit with Dr. Cramer after the study’s completion. He was advised by Dr. Cramer clearly label both Johnson & Johnson’s Baby Powder and Shower to Shower products with a health warning out of fairness to female consumers.

It was Dr. Cramer’s belief that patrons should be able to have information at their disposal from which to make informed health decisions.

Connie reports in her lawsuit that since the first epidemiological study, there have been nearly 30 other studies that supported the same basic conclusion that ovarian cancer and baby powder use was associated.

Have you or a loved one used the talc present in Johnson and Johnson’s Baby Powder and Shower to Shower products on the perineal region? Did you or that loved one subsequently develop ovarian cancer? You might have a legal claim.

The Ovarian Cancer and Baby Powder Lawsuit is Case No. 1:18-cv-01936-RC in U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia.