Johnson & Johnson had announced that they would stop making talcum baby powder in the United States. (Representative)
Washington:
A US court upheld the verdict that the talc sold by Johnson & Johnson had caused ovarian cancer and ordered the pharmaceutical giant to pay $ 2.1 billion in damages.
The Missouri Court of Appeal decision cut more than half the $ 4.4 billion jury award to 22 people in 2018. The court recognized that some of the complainants should not have been included in the case as they came from outside the state.
But Tuesday’s decision confirmed the award of damages to the company “knowingly selling asbestos-containing products to consumers”.
“Because the defendants are large multibillion-dollar companies, we believe that a large amount of punitive damages is necessary to have an effect in this matter,” said the judgment.
“It is impossible to give a monetary value to the complaints of physical, mental and emotional anguish undergone because of their wounds caused by the accused.”
A Johnson & Johnson spokesperson said the company would appeal the decision to the Missouri Supreme Court, according to the Wall Street Journal.
Johnson & Johnson has faced thousands of lawsuits in the United States, alleging that it had failed to warn consumers of the risk of asbestos-related cancer in its talc products.
In 2019, a Californian jury became the last to award millions of damages to a lawsuit that said the company’s baby powder had given him terminal cancer.
Last month, the company announced that it was stopping production of its talcum baby powder in the United States and Canada, in part due to the “constant barrage of contentious advertising” on the product.
He will continue to sell the product to the rest of the world, he added.
(With the exception of the title, this story was not edited by GalacticGaming staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
