There are many things that haunt Mark Fairweather when he thinks of his late wife, Eva. But especially heartbreaking is what she said to him in the last days of her life.
Taking his hand, she told her devoted husband of over 40 years, and the father of their two children: ‘I just wanted to get old with you.’
A retired railway signalman from Eastbourne, East Sussex, Mark, 67, had every expectation that this is what would have happened.
Instead, following Eva’s diagnosis in 2019 with stage 4B ovarian cancer – the most advanced form of the disease – their future changed in an instant.
‘We wanted to travel, enjoy life, maybe move to Spain,’ says Mark, his voice cracking. ‘I just wanted to be with Eva, to have fun, to spend time doing things we liked to do – together.’
Two years on, his grief is profound, but what has compounded Mark’s loss is his firm belief that Eva would be here today had she not used talcum powder made by Johnson & Johnson.
Mark has now joined a major legal claim brought against the company, involving more than 3,000 people in the UK who allege that they or family members developed ovarian cancer or mesothelioma (a type of cancer) as a result of using Johnson’s Baby Powder between 1965 and 2023.
Filed at the High Court two weeks ago by KP Law, the lawsuit claims the talcum powder’s main ingredient, hydrated magnesium silicate, was contaminated with asbestos, a known carcinogen, and that the company concealed the risk for decades. The case mirrors US lawsuits, where juries have awarded billions in compensation.
Johnson & Johnson withdrew mineral talc from the UK market in 2023, three years after it was removed in the US and Canada – and replaced it with corn starch: the company said this was because demand had fallen in the wake of ‘misinformation’ about the product’s safety.
‘My wife was 63 when she died,’ says Mark. ‘She did everything she could to live a healthy life.
‘She never smoked or drank, she exercised, was a healthy weight – and was always careful about what she ate and looking after herself.
Mark Fairweather with wife Eva, who died in 2023 after being diagnosed with ovarian cancer in 2019
Yet Eva had no idea that a so-called harmless product that she used routinely to freshen up could kill her,’ he adds.
‘I didn’t discover this connection until after she died – and it’s hard to put into words the anguish and rage I feel. If only we’d known or she hadn’t used the talc, she’d still be here.’
Tragically, Mark recalls being uneasy about Eva’s liberal use of the talcum powder from the earliest days of their relationship.
He recalls: ‘I was in the Armed Forces in Northern Ireland and happened to be home from leave when I met Eva. I fell madly in love with her on the spot – she was so bubbly and pretty.’
They married within a few months in 1984.
‘I remember from the start how much she used this talc – every day, say, after a shower or a bath. As she used so much each time there’d be white dust everywhere, and it would drive me mad.
‘But I also used to think, “this is a fine grain powder, it makes you want to choke when you breathe it in. How can it be good for you to use it so intimately?” I should have said something then.’
This concern is central to the group action case.
‘Mineral talcum powder sold in the UK for decades has contained asbestos, which when ingested can cause cancer,’ explains Tom Longstaff, a partner and head of product liability at KP Law.
‘It is part of this claim that Johnson & Johnson knew about these risks but did not disclose them to consumers for commercial reasons.’
A court date is yet to be set. In response to the legal action, Johnson & Johnson’s co-defendant company, Kenvue (its consumer health arm) said the Baby Powder ‘was compliant with any required regulatory standards, did not contain asbestos, and does not cause cancer’.
The first sign of a problem was in August 2019, when Eva, who worked in data analysis, began experiencing chronic indigestion and stomach cramps.
Mark has joined a major legal claim brought against Johnson & Johnson, involving more than 3,000 people in the UK who allege that they or family members developed ovarian cancer or mesothelioma as a result of using Johnson’s Baby Powder between 1965 and 2023
Despite taking over-the-counter antacids, and Buscopan for stomach cramps, nothing helped. Giving up wheat in the belief she might be gluten intolerant also didn’t help.
By December that year, Eva, normally reluctant to see a doctor, made an appointment: Mark instinctively decided to go with her. The GP examined her stomach and said it felt hard and resistant to pressure, and told the couple that Eva would need further tests.
‘We had no idea what it could be and didn’t think it could be cancer,’ recalls Mark.
‘But within a few days, while we waited for the referral, the pain got dramatically worse. Eva couldn’t bend down or barely move – we both started to panic.’
Her appointment came through just a week after she’d been to see the GP. After scans and blood tests, the consultant – ‘a genial Australian chap’ – delivered the devastating diagnosis.
‘I remember him asking if we wanted the worst-case scenario – which we did – so he didn’t pull any punches,’ says Mark.
‘He said, “I’m afraid, Eva, this is going to bite you on the bum”.
‘Some might have found that blunt, but it actually helped us process it. He was honest.
‘Of course, when you hear that, your mind goes into freefall. Part of you is completely shocked. And then, slowly, the system takes over and carries you along.’
In February 2020, following her diagnosis, Eva had surgery to remove her ovaries, womb, cervix and fallopian tubes as the cancer had spread: she then underwent six months of chemotherapy.
‘It was awful for her,’ says Mark. ‘She felt sick, her hair fell out – it made Eva laugh when the doctor said it’d grow back thicker, but it came back the same (she always hated her hair!).
‘But we tried to make the best of it. We’d sit on the garden decking in the summer sun and hope the chemo would finish the job.’
After completing chemotherapy Eva went back to work and the couple even managed a dream holiday to Egypt in spring 2022.
But then, shortly afterwards, blood tests showed Eva’s levels of CA125 – a protein linked to ovarian cancer – were rising.
More chemotherapy followed, but Eva’s health declined rapidly. She died in August 2023.
The grief for Mark and their daughters, Katie, 42, and Clare, 35, was overwhelming.
‘This legal action won’t bring Eva back, but this company needs to be held to account,’ says Mark
And when, a short time later, Mark read that talc could be linked to ovarian cancer, and that potential claimants should come forward, he didn’t hesitate.
One of the claimants’ allegations is that Johnson & Johnson ‘suppressed information that might indicate that baby powder was contaminated with asbestos’. In the court documents they also claim the company ‘lobbied regulators’ to enable the continued sale of its product.
But how might talc be linked to ovarian cancer? One potential trigger is chronic inflammation or DNA damage, which could initiate cell changes, explains Justin Stebbing, an oncologist and a professor of biomedical sciences at Anglia Ruskin University.
He says he’s convinced there is a link, pointing to a major study, published last year in the Journal of Clinical Oncology involving 50,884 women. It found a positive correlation between ovarian cancer and genital talc use.
‘To me that study was the most compelling evidence,’ says Professor Stebbing. ‘It’s very clear that there is a specific risk and the mechanism is clear.’
However, Paul Pharoah, a former professor of cancer epidemiology at Cambridge University and now a research scientist at Cedars Sinai Medical Center, Los Angeles, told Good Health that while there is a connection, the cause has not been proven.
‘There’s clear evidence that women who used talc in the genital region have a higher risk of epithelial ovarian cancer [cancer in the outer layer of tissue].
‘But correlation is not causation,’ he added, saying other factors may be involved.
But Mark is in no doubt that the talc caused his wife’s cancer.
‘This legal action won’t bring Eva back, but this company needs to be held to account,’ he says. ‘It had no business allowing people like my wife to innocently and frequently use talc – and, this is what’s so awful, in the belief it was something mild and harmless. She shouldn’t have died.’