Friday, a panel of medical experts convened by the U.S. Food & Drug Administration discussed about the association between talc use and ovarian cancer, urging the agency to study and adopt new standards to prohibit the use of talc in consumer products such as gum, candy, rice and pharmaceuticals.
This comes as the experts stated that talc is carcinogenic, based on findings of numerous studies conducted over 30 years. These findings had forced Johnson & Johnson (JNJ) to remove the company's body powders from the market in recent years.
Dr. George Tidmarsh, a pediatric neonatologist and professor at Stanford University. "In my opinion, it's not a matter of if talc should be removed from the U.S. market, it's a matter of how and when. It's a dangerous substance."
Notably, Dr. Daniel Cramer of Brigham and Women's Hospital and Harvard Medical School, was the first to publish a peer-reviewed study in 1982, revealing an increased ovarian cancer risk of atleast 82 percent in women who use talc-based powders for feminine hygiene.
Since then, over 40 studies have supported those findings in addition to tests conducted by FDA, which found presence of asbestos in cosmetic talc.
The concerns heightened last year when the National Institutes of Health affirmed "compelling evidence that genital talc use is associated with an increased risk of ovarian cancer."
Meanwhile, the Ovarian Cancer Association Consortium, consisting of top researchers from leading cancer research hospitals around the world, in 2022 called the genital exposure to talcum powder a "well established ovarian cancer risk factor." A similar stance was taken by the National Academy of Medicine.
"It was encouraging to see this distinguished panel with representatives from the FDA, NIH and the nation's leading hospitals and medical schools agree that there remains little doubt about the causal link between talc and cancer," said Andy Birchfield of the Beasley Allen Law Firm.
"In recent years, the science showing the dangers of talc exposure to women has only increased, with no new studies to indicate otherwise, and we look forward to presenting that evidence in court at the earliest possible opportunity."
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April 17, 2026 15:29 ET The ongoing conflict in the Middle East continues to raise concerns for policymakers who worry about the impact of the supply shock and high energy prices on the real economy. Producer price data and various survey results on the housing market were the main news from the U.S. this week. In Europe, industrial production data for the euro area gained attention. GDP figures out of China and the policy move by the Singapore central bank were in focus in Asia.