The multinational healthcare giant Johnson & Johnson (J&J) has offered to pay up to 5.5 billion US dollars (about 4.5 billion pounds) to settle thousands of lawsuits filed in the United States alleging that baby powder and other talc-containing products carry a risk of ovarian cancer.
The New Jersey-based healthcare company has brought forward this historic settlement offer in order to bring the long-running and much-discussed legal battle to a final end.
The company has denied from the outset, however, that its talc-based products cause cancer, and has already changed the formula of its popular baby powder.
In a statement on Monday, Johnson & Johnson’s vice-president for litigation, Erik Haas, said the allegations brought against them are “baseless.” The company is willing to reach this settlement agreement, he said, in order to resolve the matter permanently.
Under the proposed agreement, Johnson & Johnson will pay 3 billion dollars next year and will have no obligation to pay any additional money before 2028.
For the agreement to be finalised, however, J&J said the consent will be needed of law firms representing at least 95 percent of the ovarian cancer claimants in state and federal courts.
Erik Haas said: “Had we continued the final legal fight in court, the company would ultimately have won, just as it has won most cases in the past.”
He added that the settlement will allow the company to put the legal complications behind it and keep its focus on making life-saving medicines and modern medical equipment.
The first case against Johnson & Johnson over talc-based baby powder was filed in 2009.
Earlier this month a federal court observed that there are questions over whether individual claimants can produce evidence that talc powder directly caused their ovarian cancer.
Talc is a natural mineral made up of magnesium, silicon, oxygen and hydrogen. It is commonly used in baby powder for its smooth feel.
The consumers who brought the cases and their relatives allege, however, that the cancer arises because the talc comes into contact with harmful asbestos during extraction. Talc and asbestos are found side by side in the same layer of soil. Asbestos is recognised as a cancer-causing substance.
J&J has consistently rejected the allegation, saying research shows talc is safe, contains no asbestos and does not cause cancer.
The company announced it was ending production and sale of talc-based baby powder in the United States in 2020 and worldwide in 2022.
At the time it said, as part of a review of its global portfolio, that it was moving entirely to cornstarch-based baby powder.
Any legal liability arising from Johnson’s baby powder outside North America now rests with a company called Kenvue. The owner of the well-known brands Band-Aid, Listerine and Calpol, Kenvue was separated from its parent company J&J in 2022.
বাংলায় মূল প্রতিবেদন পড়ুন · Read the original Bengali report