Despite losing a $70 million (R970m) lawsuit in the US courts this week, health care giant Johnson and Johnson (J&J) appears to have no plans to remove talcum powder products from local shelves.
J&J said it would be appealing against the finding and would maintain its stance that the baby powder is safe for use
The Cancer Association of South Africa (Cansa) on Friday said it was fully behind the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) which had classified “talc” as possibly carcinogenic to humans.
This follows the verdict for an American woman who took J&J to court, alleging years of use of their baby talcum powder caused her ovarian cancer.
Commenting on the win, Cansa’s Professor Michael Herbst said: “We support the agency findings that there is limited evidence in humans for the carcinogenicity of perineal use of talc-based body powder, and Cansa will continue to respect and endorse the IARC classification of talc’ as a Group2B carcinogen.”