The barrage of legal action against US healthcare giant Johnson & Johnson (J&J), involving claims that the company’s baby powder and other talc products cause various kinds of cancer, has expanded to the UK.
More than 3000 people have filed a joint lawsuit against the company, brought by UK law firm KP Law and estimated to be worth more than £1 billion. They argue that J&J knew its baby powder products were contaminated with the known carcinogen asbestos, or with particles morphologically similar to asbestos that present comparable health risks.
The lawsuit asserts that J&J and its former consumer health business Kenvue ‘concealed that knowledge from the public’ and kept selling products containing talc and asbestos in the UK until 2023, when its base ingredient was changed from talc to cornstarch. The claimants cite internal memos and reports to support their arguments, and they seek damages.
In response to the legal action, Kenvue – which separated from J&J in August 2023 and retains liability for talc-related litigation outside of the US and Canada – argued that the safety of J&J’s baby powder is ‘backed by years of testing by independent and leading laboratories, universities, and health authorities in the UK and around the world’. For over a decade, Kenvue said, ‘lawsuits in the United States have created unfounded confusion and unnecessary fear about talc, an ingredient that has been used safely in a variety of consumer products and foods like rice and olive oil.’
Several US juries have returned verdicts that ordered J&J to award damages to women diagnosed with ovarian cancer, as well those with from other cancers and medical conditions associated with talc. However, US Judges have reduced or reversed damages in many cases. J&J has won some appeals in US court, but in June of last year the company agreed to a $700 million settlement with 42 states and Washington, DC to resolve allegations that it misled customers about the safety of its talc-based powder products. As of October 2025, the company was estimated to be facing more than 67,000 lawsuits regarding its talc-based powder products as part of consolidated national litigation in the US.
Significant legal system differences
Most recently, in October a Los Angeles court found J&J liable for the death of a woman from mesothelioma in 2021. The jury awarded the family damages totalling $966 million, including $950 million in punitive damages, but J&J has said it will appeal the decision.
But the US legal system is ‘significantly different’ to the UK’s. In the UK, as Kenvue points out, judges decide issues of liability and causation and there are no juries for these types of cases. And these judges rely on the testimony of scientific experts who have duties to the court such as impartiality, which Kenvue says contrasts with the US trials in liability and causation issues are decided by lay juries.
Andy Birchfield, who heads mass torts at law firm Beasley Allen in Alabama and has represented some of the US plaintiffs suing J&J, disagrees. He says newly filed UK cases are ‘built on J&J’s legacy of deceit and deception’ regarding the dangers of its talc-based powders.
‘I’m sure the process of litigation in the UK presents some differences compared to the US, but the truth remains,’ Birchfield continues. ‘J&J’s corporate documents reveal knowledge of asbestos in those products, and management’s choice over decades to deny the facts and try to avoid any potential liability, a pattern that continues to this day.’