Another lawsuit alleging a woman developed ovarian cancer from talcum powder has been filed against pharmaceutical giant Johnson & Johnson.

Plaintiff Nancy B. says she used Johnson & Johnson Baby Powder or Shower to Shower for feminine hygiene purposes for a majority of her adult life. She routinely used the products in her perineal area, trusting the products were safe to use in the manner intended.

Nancy’s “development of ovarian cancer was the direct and proximate result of the unreasonably dangerous and defective condition of the products at the time of sale and consumption, including their lack of warnings,” she claims.

Early Accusations of Ovarian Cancer from Talcum Powder

Studies dating back to at least 1982, and more than a dozen since then, contend that development of ovarian cancer may be linked to talcum powder. Researchers believe talc particles have a propensity to travel from the perineum through the vaginal tract and into the ovaries where they register as a foreign object, causing the body to develop an inflammatory response.

According to the ovarian cancer from talcum powder lawsuit, “Johnson & Johnson’s own paid consultant, Dr. Alfred Wehner, advised the company on multiple occasions prior to 1997 that its denial of a positive association between feminine talc use and ovarian cancer was ‘technically and factually incorrect..’”

A leading authority on carcinogens, the International Association for the Research of Cancer (IARC), has “determined that there is a credible causal connection between feminine talc use and ovarian cancer.”

The IARC found between 16 and 52 percent of women around the world were dusting their perineum with talc. Researchers found an increased risk of ovarian cancer in those talc users that ranged from 30 to 60 percent.

According to the American Cancer Society, approximately 22,440 women will receive a diagnosis of ovarian cancer in 2017. Approximately 14,080 women will die of ovarian cancer, which ranks fifth in cancer deaths among women.

The Cancer Prevention Coalition has said that “ovarian cancer is very difficult to detect and has a low survival rate.”

Ovarian Cancer from Talcum Powder Alleges Greed

Talc is magnesium trisilicate, which is mined from the earth. Named defendant Imerys is a company that mined the talc used in Johnson & Johnson baby powder and Shower to Shower body powder. Talc is virtually the sole ingredient in the powders.

Imerys added an ovarian cancer warning to its Material Safety Data Sheets it provides to talc customers in 2006. Despite the warning and evidence of studies dating back to the 1960s, Johnson & Johnson failed to warn consumers of the link between ovarian cancer and talcum powder.

Instead, “Johnson & Johnson continue to represent on the labeling and other marketing materials that Johnson’s Baby Powder is ‘clinically proven mildness,’ ‘clinically proven to be safe, gentle and mild,’ and ‘that the safety of cosmetic talc is supported by decades of scientific evidence and independent peer reviewed studies,’” the lawsuit reads.

The Ovarian Cancer and Talcum Powder Lawsuit is Case No. 1:17-cv-06595 in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois.