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ST. LOUIS RECORD

Friday, March 29, 2024

Plaintiffs put doctor on stand in J&J talc trial; Under cross, witness says he's not medical doctor

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ST. LOUIS – As the second week of trial opened in a lawsuit accusing medical and beauty products giant Johnson & Johnson of selling talc powder containing asbestos that caused 22 women to develop ovarian cancer, a noted historian told a jury that companies had been lax in recognizing dangers.

“This never should have happened,” Dr. David Rosner, professor of history and science at Columbia University, told the jury in the St. Louis City Circuit Court on June 11.

Rosner appeared as a witness for the plaintiffs called by Mark Lanier, a personal injury attorney with the Lanier Law Firm of Houston, New York and Los Angeles.


Rosner

The case is the fifth ovarian cancer trial held in the court over the past two years and plaintiffs in the earlier trials have already been awarded over $300 million in damages.

“What’s so bad about asbestos?” Lanier asked Rosner.

“It’s one of the oldest identified causes of serious lung disease,” Rosner responded. “Pliny the Elder (ancient Roman) knew it was dangerous, but it really goes back to the Industrial Revolution in England and here in the U.S.”

Rosner was called to recount the history of asbestos and the gradual progression of knowledge that the substance was a cause of fatal illness that often takes years to develop.

Administrators in England in 1898 began investigating the substance used in manufacturing plants calling asbestos “evil dust” and by 1917 the Prudential Life Insurance Co. had targeted in a report asbestos as being hazardous to health. As a result, insurance companies at the time would not provide insurance for asbestos workers.

“If you’re going to have any product with asbestos in it and make it into dust that people can breathe, you have created a hazard,” Rosner said under questioning. “The problem with baby powder is, your objective is to create dust.”

Despite increasing warnings about the hazard by the 1930s, companies kept using asbestos Rosner said.

“If it had been kept out of products we never would have discovered mesothelioma (cancer),” he said. “We kept using it and now we’re dealing with ovarian cancer.”

Peter Bicks with Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe LLP of New York, the defense attorney for Johnson & Johnson, under cross examination questioned Rosner’s qualifications to make statements attributing talc powder use to cancer.

“Are you a medical doctor?” Bicks asked.

“No,” Rosner answered.

“A radiologist?” Bicks asked.

“No,” Rosner responded.

“Oncologist?”

“I’m not any kind of (medical) doctor,” Rosner said.

Rosner told the courtroom by the 1970s the Occupational Safety & Health Administration (OSHA) after testing had begun trying to limit the use of asbestos in products.

Bicks presented slides from studies noting there was no reason to believe normal exposure to cosmetics (talc) resulted in cancer, and that asbestos fibers can be found everywhere, in air, water and the earth’s crust.

“What’s in the earth’s crust is not dangerous,” Rosner responded. “Generally with air and water you don’t have to worry. It’s not dangerous in your floor. It’s when you rip up the floor, it’s when you turn it into dust it becomes dangerous.”

During the afternoon session a tape of Lanier questioning Dr. Joanne Waldstreicher, research and development chief medical officer for Johnson & Johnson, was played for the jury.

Lanier displayed a statement made by the company that concern about talc powder use and cancer was first raised in the 1980s. Lanier said warnings were issued much earlier.

“You knew the concern about talc and ovarian cancer was not first raised in the 1980s as the company claims,” he said.

“I was not at the company at the time so I could not speak to that,” Waldstreicher said.

“The FDA (Food & Drug Administration) going back to the 1960s said there was a possible association between talc and ovarian cancer,” Lanier said. “Can we agree that Johnson & Johnson has failed to be transparent?”

“No I don’t agree,” Waldstreicher answered.         

Waldstreicher had appeared in a company video defending the company’s talc product as safe. She said she felt comfortable making the video after talking to J&J Vice President of Safety Dr. Susan Nicholson about the product.      

   

 

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