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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