J&J proposes $5.5 billion talc lawsuit settlement

Johnson & Johnson has proposed paying up to $5.5 billion to settle tens of thousands of U.S. lawsuits alleging that its talc-based baby powder and other products caused ovarian cancer, a deal that could end one of the company’s longest-running legal battles.

The healthcare giant said the proposed settlement would cover about 69,000 cases in federal and state courts. Al Jazeera reported that the figure represents 99.75 percent of outstanding talc-related cases in the United States. The agreement would become final only if it is accepted by legal firms representing 95 percent of ovarian cancer claimants in state and federal courts.

J&J said it would offer up to $3 billion next year, with no additional payments due before 2028, the BBC reported.

The company has repeatedly denied that its talc products caused cancer. Erik Haas, J&J’s vice president of litigation, said Monday that the allegations are “meritless” and that the company was settling to resolve the matter. He said J&J remained confident it would have “ultimately prevailed with further litigation,” as it has in most cases heard in court to date.

Haas said the proposed resolution “allows the company to put this matter behind it” and lets J&J “remain focused on its mission to develop medicines and devices that save lives.”

The lawsuits, which began as early as 2009, were brought by consumers and survivors who claim J&J’s talc products caused cancer because they were contaminated with asbestos. Talc is a natural mineral made of magnesium, silicon, oxygen and hydrogen and is known for its soapy feel. It has been widely used in baby powder. Because talc is mined from the earth and can be found in seams near asbestos, plaintiffs have argued that the products posed a cancer risk.

J&J rejected that claim again in its latest announcement, saying: “Studies show talc is safe, does not contain asbestos and does not cause cancer.”

The company has already changed the formula of its widely used baby powder. In 2022, J&J said it would stop making and selling talc-based baby powder worldwide, more than two years after ending sales in the United States. “As part of a worldwide portfolio assessment, we have made the commercial decision to transition to an all cornstarch-based baby powder portfolio,” the company said at the time. Al Jazeera reported that J&J stopped selling talc-based baby powder in the U.S. in 2020 and worldwide in 2023.

The legal fight has produced mixed results. In 2016, a U.S. jury ordered J&J to pay $72 million to the family of a woman who died of ovarian cancer, the first such case in the country tied to talc use, Al Jazeera reported. That case was overturned a year later, but claims multiplied, and juries across the U.S. have awarded damages to plaintiffs. Earlier in July, a federal court handed J&J a victory by questioning individual plaintiffs’ ability to show that talc was the direct cause of their ovarian cancer, the BBC reported.

Al Jazeera reported that the World Health Organization classified talc as “probably carcinogenic to humans” in 2024.

The proposed U.S. settlement does not cover the United Kingdom, where Al Jazeera reported that the largest product liability case in UK history is under way. That case, involving more than 7,000 potential claimants, was filed in October 2025 and alleges that J&J knew its talc could cause cancers, chiefly ovarian cancer and mesothelioma, but continued selling it. J&J denies that claim as well.