Hawaiian Woman with Mesothelioma Blames Asbestos Hidden in Johnson & Johnson’s Baby Powder

A Hawaiian Islands woman has filed a personal injury lawsuit against Johnson & Johnson as well as the local Foodland Super Market chain, blaming asbestos in talc-based baby powder for her malignant mesothelioma. An equestrian, Jacqueline Becker used Johnson & Johnson’s Baby Powder for her entire life, both for her own comfort and while caring for her horses.

Woman Diagnosed with Mesothelioma at Age 55

Though most mesothelioma victims are elderly men whose disease appears decades after their occupational exposure to asbestos, a disturbing number of middle-aged women are being diagnosed after childhood use of talc-based products. These products have been accused of being contaminated with the toxic mineral, which is often found in close proximity to talc in nature.

In Ms. Becker’s case, her mesothelioma claim cites her use of Johnson & Johnson’s Baby Powder from 1963 to 2018, from the time she was born and raised in Australia and continuing into 1991 to 2018 when she was an adult and became a resident of Hawaii.  She was diagnosed with the rare and deadly form of cancer in 2019.

Mesothelioma Claim Accuses Johnson & Johnson of Negligence

Ms. Becker accuses Johnson & Johnson of negligence, claiming that the product was defective and unsafe and that the company had failed to discover its defects, to adequately test it, and to give adequate warnings of its known or knowable dangers. She is seeking compensation for her physical and emotional damages.

Incorporated in the charges that she filed against the consumer giant was a reference to the company’s own internal testing from decades earlier, alerting company management that the product was contaminated with asbestos. According to her representative, “The company had a responsibility to warn the public, but they failed to do so and now thousands of people are sick.” Though thousands of pending mesothelioma claims have been put on hold by Johnson & Johnson’s recent bankruptcy filing, Ms. Becker’s case was filed prior to that filing.