Family get $72m after talc-based products are linked to fatal cancer

Johnson & Johnson has been ordered by a Missouri jury to pay $72m (€65.4m) damages to the family of a woman whose death from ovarian cancer was linked to her use of the company’s Baby Powder and Shower to Shower for several decades.

Jurors in St Louis awarded the family of Jacqueline Fox $10m in actual damages and $62m punitive damages.

Johnson & Johnson faces claims that, in an effort to boost sales, it failed for decades to warn consumers its talc-based products could cause cancer. About 1,000 cases have been filed in Missouri state court, and another 200 in New Jersey.