Johnson & Johnson to pay $15 million to US man who claims its talc gave him cancer
Connecticut: Johnson & Johnson (J&J) has been ordered to pay $15 million to a U.S. man who alleges that he developed mesothelioma, a rare form of cancer, after using the company’s talc powder for decades.
According to Reuters, Plaintiff Evan Plotkin sued the company in 2021 soon after his diagnosis, saying he became ill from inhaling J&J's baby powder. The verdict by jury comes as J&J seeks to resolve claims from over 62,000 individuals who say that they got ovarian and other gynaecological cancers from talc through a nearly $9 billion settlement in bankruptcy.
While the bankruptcy deal faces legal challenges from some plaintiffs' lawyers and has put lawsuits related to gynaecological cancers on hold, it does not impact the smaller number of mesothelioma claims, such as Plotkin's. J&J has settled some of those claims in the past but has not proposed a nationwide settlement yet.
Plaintiffs in all of the lawsuits say that J&J's talc products, including its once iconic baby powder, were tainted with asbestos, a carcinogen known to cause mesothelioma and other cancers, as mentioned by the news agency.
J&J denies these allegations, maintaining that its products are safe and free of asbestos.
The company withdrew its talc-based powder products from the U.S. market in 2020.
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Pakistan reports two more polio cases; Total tally now 52
ISLAMABAD: At least two more cases of poliovirus were reported in Pakistan, taking the number of infections to 52 so far this year, a report said on Friday.
“The Regional Reference Laboratory for Polio Eradication at the National Institute of Health has confirmed the detection of two more wild poliovirus type 1 (WPV1) cases in Pakistan," an official statement said.
The fresh infections — a boy and a girl — were reported from the Dera Ismail Khan district of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa province.
“Genetic sequencing of the samples collected from the children is underway," the statement read. Dera Ismail Khan, one of the seven polio-endemic districts of southern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, has reported five polio cases so far this year.
Of the 52 cases in the country this year, 24 are from Balochistan, 13 from Sindh, 13 from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, and one each from Punjab and Islamabad.
There is no cure for polio. Only multiple doses of the oral polio vaccine and completion of the routine vaccination schedule for all children under the age of five can keep them protected.
