Johnson lawsuit takes the world by storm

Johnson & Johnson (J&J) has agreed to pay $5.5 billion ( MK 9 Trillion) to settle about 69,000 lawsuits in the United States over claims that its discontinued talc-based baby powder caused ovarian cancer.

The agreement will only take effect if at least 95 percent of the claimants approve it. The lawsuits stem from years of legal battles over the safety of talc-based products.Although the World Health Organization (WHO) classified talc as “probably carcinogenic to humans” in 2024, J&J continues to deny that its baby powder causes cancer. However, the company stopped selling talc-based baby powder in the United States in 2020 and worldwide in 2023.Meanwhile,the dispute dates back to 2016, when a US jury awarded $72 million to the family of a woman who died from ovarian cancer after using the product. While that ruling was later overturned, thousands of similar claims followed.