International Agency Announces Heightened Evidence of Talc-Ovarian Cancer Link
July 08 2024 - 10:28AM
Business Wire
Attorneys say new IARC risk assessment an
important warning for doctors, women who used talc for feminine
hygiene
Scientists from the International Agency for Research on Cancer
(IARC) have raised the organization’s classification of the cancer
risk stemming from genital talc use to “probable” carcinogenic from
“possible.”
The change in classification by the respected IARC Working
Group, part of the World Health Organization, supports other
published medical research documenting the serious dangers to
consumers who used talc-based body powder for feminine hygiene. As
a global authority on cancer IARC, wields enormous influence and
respect in the medical community, even among its critics.
According to IARC, talc is now classified as “probably
carcinogenic to humans” (Group 2A) based on a combination of
“limited” evidence for cancer in humans, “sufficient” evidence for
cancer in experimental animals, and “strong” mechanistic evidence
in human primary cells and experimental systems.
The pronouncement, published in the prestigious journal Lancet,
follows the May publication of a comprehensive study by National
Institute of Environmental Health Sciences researchers within the
National Institutes of Health, which found talc use doubles the
statistically significant risk of ovarian cancer, especially among
long-term users and those who used talc-containing products for
feminine hygiene in their 20s and 30s.
Coupled with the NIH study published in The Journal of Clinical
Oncology, the new IARC classification should be an important signal
to physicians and their patients, say attorneys pursuing legal
claims against Johnson & Johnson.
Those claims allege that the company’s manufacturing and
deceptive marketing of the talc-based Johnson’s Baby Powder and
Shower to Shower brands caused ovarian cancer in tens of thousands
of women. In 2020, the company announced it would no longer sell
talc-based powders in North America, then ended all sales worldwide
in 2023.
“It is telling that Johnson & Johnson is the only entity
vehemently denying the carcinogenic nature of talcum powder,” says
Leigh O’Dell of the Beasley Allen Law Firm. “Because of its
liability J&J has the most to lose, except for the countless
number of women who have lost their lives because of the company's
products. Every responsible clinician should recognize the
independence, integrity and influence of IARC and the NIH which
have carefully analyzed decades of data documenting the association
of genital talc use and ovarian cancer and warn their patients of
the risks.”
Ms. O’Dell and Michelle Parfitt of Ashcraft & Gerel LLP
co-chair the plaintiffs’ steering committee for more than 50,000
lawsuits filed on behalf of ovarian cancer victims consolidated in
federal court in New Jersey.
“We believe the IARC announcement elevating the carcinogenic
risk of talc is further confirmation of the serious ovarian cancer
risk to women exposed by the genital use of talc,” says Ms.
Parfitt. “The mining of talc can lead to commingling with naturally
occurring asbestos fibers, which no amount of processing can
completely remove. With asbestos widely accepted as a known human
carcinogen, the EPA ban of asbestos use in the United States, and
the consistent findings over decades of increased risks associated
with the perineal use of talc, this reclassification to a higher
level of carcinogenic probability by IARC is not surprising.”
Since IARC first classified talc as a possible carcinogen in
2006, dozens of peer-reviewed and published studies have
demonstrated an association between genital talc use and ovarian
cancer. Documents revealed in litigation show that Johnson &
Johnson was aware of that link since at least the late 1960s.
IARC’s mission is to coordinate and conduct ongoing research on
the causes and mechanisms of human cancer. The agency is involved
in both epidemiological and laboratory research and disseminates
scientific information through publications, meetings, courses and
fellowships.
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