Jury Awards $417M To Calif. Woman Claiming Baby Power Caused Cancer.
25 Replies to “Oy.”
Johnson & Johnson should give her a free lifetime supply of baby powder in lieu…
Got to love the “editors” at CBS.
I was picturing all of the babies marching and demonstrating in the streets of San Francisco. Cue breathless CBS journalist: “… and the chant goes up as the babies march past with fists raised… Baby Power, Baby Power, Baby Power… ”
AlbertaLyle
How long before alarm clocks warn that getting up may cause cancer? Paying property taxes may cause cancer… What is the number for Merchant Law Group?
If she had have bathed every day she might not need to cover up the odor with baby powder. BTW, how the hell does it get all the way to the ovaries? Is she standing on her head and pouring it in?
Since when does an unqualified jury of 12 people get to decide (let alone pretend to understand) what is carcinogenic? I mean, the FDA obviously should have hired these experts.
You think a judge with a lefty liberal arts background could do better?
Geez my mom used to powder my butt with that stuff when I was in diapers.
Last year I was diagnosed with prostate cancer.
Do yuh think I’ve got a case?!
Yes, it is getting that ridiculous.
Well the dumb plutt shouldnt have shoved the whole container…?
This is as stupid as the McDonalds “hot coffee”incident….But as well all are aware, one cannot fix stupid…did she ever take a shower I wonder..??
Is ISIS going to sue that guy in Charlottesville for cultural appropriation of allahu attack car? Just wondering, because as Ken mentioned, it IS getting that stupid…
This is as stupid as the McDonalds “hot coffee”incident
Which was entirely reasonable, if you read the actual decision and not the shrieky agenda-ridden clickbait.
This being California, I’m guessing the case hinged on the fact that under California law everything is carcinogenic, and J&J didn’t plaster enough warnings all over their product that at some point in the future somebody with a tenuous grasp of science might decide that there’s a correlation between inhaling talc six hours a day for two years and cancer.
You generally get lottery-sized payouts in cases like this when the jurors are convinced the company knew there was a definite risk and continued to either claim otherwise, or continued selling the product unmodified. Since there doesn’t seem to be any conclusive link between talc and ovarian cancers, we’re probably looking at another John Edwards channeling-the-dead-baby attorney.
We have a nation of science illiterates … who believe that … “if the glove don’t fit, you must acquit”. The hell with all that “complicated DNA evidence” … that’s just “white devils” LIES designed to kill the black man. Let me guess the plaintiffs summary went something like this … “if you get female cancer, babypower is the answer”. Yeah, that catchy slogan would pretty much sway the illiterate juries that get seated these days. That poor, poor woman got cancer because, she thinks, that some ridiculous “study” found a “connection” between an ingredient in baby powder and cancer in baby mice. Nevermind that that literally hundreds of millions of people have safely used this product for 80 years. THAT … is “just anecdotal” evidence of product safety. Our “mouse study” was done by scientists! and included 50 mice with baby powder shoved up their rectums every day.
I now realize that I made a HUGE mistake after my own brothers horrible lymphatic cancer that killed him at age 28. I FAILED to BLAME someone or something for his death. As a Honda factory-trained auto mechanic … I FAILED to SUE Honda Motors for failing to require gloves be worn at all times when handling toxic substances like brake cleaning solvents. I failed to SUE “Goop” for selling a product that “claimed” to clean grease off his hands … but failed to do so. I failed to SUE Dow chemical for a myriad of toxic substances that saturated my brothers body. No … silly me … I just assumed that some humans are genetically pre-disposed to certain cancers (like my own wife who carries the BRCA-gene predisposing her to breast cancer which killed her mother and grandmother). I failed to recognize that humans would all live forever, and never get cancer or heart attacks if not for Chemical corporations, Big Oil, and Big Junk Food. I failed to read the “scientific” study that found Sharks never get cancer … and if my brother had only eaten a shark cartilage supplement, he would still be with me. What was I thinking ? I could be filthy fkcuing RICH right now !!!
Is baby power made with sustainable, organic, fair trade, and free-range babies? If not, it’s just wrong.
This is one of them “Let’s shaft the big evil corporation” kind of judgments that gets appealed as a matter of course. They may well settle out of court for a vastly smaller amount, although we’ll never know because it’ll be confidential.
Where they carrying tiki torches?
On a related note, something which has always concerned me: If garlic powder comes from garlic — what the hell do they make baby powder from?! And who the hell thought that would make a good spice?
These judgments are routinely reduced on appeal, precisely because they’re insane. What you rarely hear about is that the McDonald’s hot coffee payout went down to $640,000 before being settled for a confidential amount.
the McDonalds “hot coffee”incident
BTW, if you’ve read into it, the McDonald’s hot-coffee incident was a real suit of real damage, and Granny ended-up in hospital over it – and didn’t get nearly the settlement that popular rumour says she did; it just about paid her lawyer and hospital bills. And McDonald’s had been quietly paying-out damage claims over their coffee for awhile – they had it cranked-up into the ‘instant scald’ zone.
One would not be blamed in thinking that baby power that is dusted on babies would be absolutely safe. Would never cross my mind that it would be a bad thing to put on pu$$ies.
‘complicated DNA evidence’.
there was a documentary a couple months ago on the JonBenet case, one clip that stuck with me was the Boulder top cop dissing DNA evidence in the case as irrelevant or some such thing, in relation to the mystery DNA found on the child’s underwear.
DNA evidence ‘irrelevant’. jeezuz murphy.
wtf is wrong with cops these days? I got told by the locals that they refuse to consider video evidence because they don’t have ‘time’ to ‘wade thru it all’. hey a-hole, it’s called a fast forward button. another one told me they refuse outright to look at it because it *might* not be useful, which is in fact true, but that determination can ONLY happen if they TAKE A GO&^^AMN LOOK AT IT.
jeezuz murphy 2.0.
Can’t say that I’ve seen a case of talcum powder being associated with cancer. What is missing from the link regarding this case is whether there is a family history of ovarian cancer in the family and did the woman carry one of the mutations which predispose them to ovarian cancer?
Talcum powder was once used to coat surgical gloves but no longer is used given the increased incidence of post-surgical intra-abdominal adhesions as a result. None of the patients I’ve seen with such adhesions have ever associated subsequent cancers with the use of talcum powder. In theory its possible but only someone with no understanding of biology and statistics would claim that use of a talcum power was definitely the cause in a given person.
What we’ve learned from thousands of years of medical experience is that over-using anything may not be good for your health. I’ve seen people with water intoxication get permanent brain damage from hyponatremia, “chemical” phobic vegans get permanent damage to their spinal cords from B12 deficiency as they refuse to take non-natural “chemicals”, severe anemia in kids of vegetarian parents and a host of self-caused diseases where people take no responsibility for their own actions but blame it on someone else. Surprising that chaos theory hasn’t yet percolated down to the general public which still persists in assuming that everything that happens to them has a distinct cause (and someone elses fault if they’re involved in a lawsuit and a legal system which also labors under the same delusion of causality applied to everything). I gave up trying to explain acausal phenomena to my patients and found it best to not explain to patients who were “totally disabled” by a minor fender-bender that their stress level before the accident was analogous to a huge sandpile that just needed a single grain of sand to cause a large avalanche which what the minor accident they were in represented. I fail to see why ICBC should pay a huge amount to someone who hadn’t taken care of their life prior to the accident and likely wouldn’t be any happier after a settlement since the underlying issues are still there.
Gawwd … you are intelligent. Seriously. Not a smidgeon of sarc. I suspect a combination of both nature and nurture in your case. Strong genetics (I’m willing to bet there are many Doctors in your family tree) … and an obviously high level of education witnessed by every word you post. Thank you, for counterbalancing my typically grim view of humanity today.
To your comment about sand piles, please allow me to endorse your observation with the counterpoint of my own life experience.
Parents divorced (violently and hatefully) at age 5. Mother remarried an older man who hated my brother and I (simply because he had already raised his 4-adult kids). Stepdad convinced my mother to go back to court to refuse custody of my brother and I, and return us to our alcoholic father. She succeeded. Life with bio-dad was hell, including the alcoholic pediatrician he remarried (for 3-months). We eventually ended-up in a dump of an apartment, and had to resort to literally stealing our meals from Safeway (because our dad drank his paycheck). When I was 15yo and witnessed my father getting beaten and shoved down a flight of concrete stairs by the apt. Manager for arguing his delinquent rent … I ran-away from home to escape the madness. I ended-up Foster Care, with a family I had known, but were also somewhat dysfunctional. After a fairly horrible childhood (I attended 8 different elementary schools) I was on my own as a freshman in HS … with no other family support (our bio-mother never contacted us ever again). I literally had to hitchhike to HS for two years. I insisted on going to the HS I started, rather than the one local to my Foster Home (it was a much superior school). I eventually ended-up in a second Foster Home of a Christian couple who heard a plea from the -Christian- Dean of boys at my HS. I had finally and desperately confessed my family situation to him. He was shocked to hear my story and appealed to his congregation to help a “good kid” who had no family. Living with this older couple (who had already raised their 4-adult children) was … uncomfortable … to say the least. Very “Christianly” uptight and rigid … but amazingly supportive and welcoming. I could go on … but my point is that my brother and I had it rough … really rough. But both he and I REFUSED to allow the sand pile of our CRAP family and childhood pile-up over our heads. We both ended-up quite successful (my brother and I both bought our first homes at age 24). Our lives were nothing but one car crash after another … but we resisted the “easy” way out of becoming crushed by our troubles. There are a myriad of nuanced events and people which shaped our paths, but it is fascinating to me to consider what it is (biologically, or psychologically) that allows some people to survive and thrive … while others are beaten down and crawl on their hands and knees. Life is indeed a mystery.
your candor is truly admirable.
the 50s were NOT a fun time for moi. I literally got beat up by all the following:
-grade 1 teacher
-classmates
-so called friends
-parents. mother was a sexual abuser, father was a stereotype drunken irishman.
-siblings
-strangers
then I got a full time job @ 20 yrs age, packed on 40 pounds of muscle and proceeded to guard ALL those close to me.
wtf. were these people trying to raise a serial killer?
the good news it was a real lesson in who to trust. a number of successful high points included the day I had my first adrenaline rush and pounded the living crapola out of some playground nazi wannabe who scared the crapola out of me stalking me.
he hung himself. I was then a 12 yr old killer and am *still* proud of the fact I beat the shyt out of a budding ‘boss from hell’ the v-e-r-y first time I stuck up for myself.
the extra good news, nobody in grade school bugged my ass after that.
but that all pales compared to your story. migawd, welcome sir, welcome to the world WE have created consisting of a balance between pursuing a peaceful prosperous life and career, and the ability to inflict a nightmare of horror on anyone who would try to take it away.
I sometimes wonder whether my generation of helicopter parents are actually crippling their children, by making life too easy for them. Struggle and adversity are like heat tempering steel to strengthen our character. Our current generation of snowflakes will melt instantly when presented with adversity … or just blame someone else and demand they pay.
All I ever wanted … was to “be normal”. To have a “normal family” (a bit of a mythology) like my friends. I got really good at projecting a facade of “normality”. And that was what drove me to always do my best … the desire to NEVER repeat the mistakes of my flawed parents. To make something positive out of my life. I never HATED either of my parents, but from a very early age (about 10yo, when given up by my mother) I recognized that my parents were simply weak minded and were to be pitied … not hated. I’ve never had time our the emotional space for bitterness. Too counterproductive.
The worst “scar” that I received from my upbringing ? I tend to be a bit more “selfish” than I should. It became my most needed personality trait … to always, aggressively, look out for MYself (and my older brother … it was US against the world). I thank God for my brothers love and support … he took the brunt of the crap that came our way. It was good being the younger brother.
Johnson & Johnson should give her a free lifetime supply of baby powder in lieu…
Got to love the “editors” at CBS.
I was picturing all of the babies marching and demonstrating in the streets of San Francisco. Cue breathless CBS journalist: “… and the chant goes up as the babies march past with fists raised… Baby Power, Baby Power, Baby Power… ”
AlbertaLyle
How long before alarm clocks warn that getting up may cause cancer? Paying property taxes may cause cancer… What is the number for Merchant Law Group?
Baby Power = http://www.telegraph.co.uk/science/2016/03/15/aborted-babies-incinerated-to-heat-uk-hospitals/
And the VA won’t see me re Agent Orange.
If she had have bathed every day she might not need to cover up the odor with baby powder. BTW, how the hell does it get all the way to the ovaries? Is she standing on her head and pouring it in?
Since when does an unqualified jury of 12 people get to decide (let alone pretend to understand) what is carcinogenic? I mean, the FDA obviously should have hired these experts.
You think a judge with a lefty liberal arts background could do better?
Geez my mom used to powder my butt with that stuff when I was in diapers.
Last year I was diagnosed with prostate cancer.
Do yuh think I’ve got a case?!
Yes, it is getting that ridiculous.
Well the dumb plutt shouldnt have shoved the whole container…?
This is as stupid as the McDonalds “hot coffee”incident….But as well all are aware, one cannot fix stupid…did she ever take a shower I wonder..??
Is ISIS going to sue that guy in Charlottesville for cultural appropriation of allahu attack car? Just wondering, because as Ken mentioned, it IS getting that stupid…
This is as stupid as the McDonalds “hot coffee”incident
Which was entirely reasonable, if you read the actual decision and not the shrieky agenda-ridden clickbait.
This being California, I’m guessing the case hinged on the fact that under California law everything is carcinogenic, and J&J didn’t plaster enough warnings all over their product that at some point in the future somebody with a tenuous grasp of science might decide that there’s a correlation between inhaling talc six hours a day for two years and cancer.
You generally get lottery-sized payouts in cases like this when the jurors are convinced the company knew there was a definite risk and continued to either claim otherwise, or continued selling the product unmodified. Since there doesn’t seem to be any conclusive link between talc and ovarian cancers, we’re probably looking at another John Edwards channeling-the-dead-baby attorney.
We have a nation of science illiterates … who believe that … “if the glove don’t fit, you must acquit”. The hell with all that “complicated DNA evidence” … that’s just “white devils” LIES designed to kill the black man. Let me guess the plaintiffs summary went something like this … “if you get female cancer, babypower is the answer”. Yeah, that catchy slogan would pretty much sway the illiterate juries that get seated these days. That poor, poor woman got cancer because, she thinks, that some ridiculous “study” found a “connection” between an ingredient in baby powder and cancer in baby mice. Nevermind that that literally hundreds of millions of people have safely used this product for 80 years. THAT … is “just anecdotal” evidence of product safety. Our “mouse study” was done by scientists! and included 50 mice with baby powder shoved up their rectums every day.
I now realize that I made a HUGE mistake after my own brothers horrible lymphatic cancer that killed him at age 28. I FAILED to BLAME someone or something for his death. As a Honda factory-trained auto mechanic … I FAILED to SUE Honda Motors for failing to require gloves be worn at all times when handling toxic substances like brake cleaning solvents. I failed to SUE “Goop” for selling a product that “claimed” to clean grease off his hands … but failed to do so. I failed to SUE Dow chemical for a myriad of toxic substances that saturated my brothers body. No … silly me … I just assumed that some humans are genetically pre-disposed to certain cancers (like my own wife who carries the BRCA-gene predisposing her to breast cancer which killed her mother and grandmother). I failed to recognize that humans would all live forever, and never get cancer or heart attacks if not for Chemical corporations, Big Oil, and Big Junk Food. I failed to read the “scientific” study that found Sharks never get cancer … and if my brother had only eaten a shark cartilage supplement, he would still be with me. What was I thinking ? I could be filthy fkcuing RICH right now !!!
Is baby power made with sustainable, organic, fair trade, and free-range babies? If not, it’s just wrong.
This is one of them “Let’s shaft the big evil corporation” kind of judgments that gets appealed as a matter of course. They may well settle out of court for a vastly smaller amount, although we’ll never know because it’ll be confidential.
Where they carrying tiki torches?
On a related note, something which has always concerned me: If garlic powder comes from garlic — what the hell do they make baby powder from?! And who the hell thought that would make a good spice?
These judgments are routinely reduced on appeal, precisely because they’re insane. What you rarely hear about is that the McDonald’s hot coffee payout went down to $640,000 before being settled for a confidential amount.
the McDonalds “hot coffee”incident
BTW, if you’ve read into it, the McDonald’s hot-coffee incident was a real suit of real damage, and Granny ended-up in hospital over it – and didn’t get nearly the settlement that popular rumour says she did; it just about paid her lawyer and hospital bills. And McDonald’s had been quietly paying-out damage claims over their coffee for awhile – they had it cranked-up into the ‘instant scald’ zone.
One would not be blamed in thinking that baby power that is dusted on babies would be absolutely safe. Would never cross my mind that it would be a bad thing to put on pu$$ies.
‘complicated DNA evidence’.
there was a documentary a couple months ago on the JonBenet case, one clip that stuck with me was the Boulder top cop dissing DNA evidence in the case as irrelevant or some such thing, in relation to the mystery DNA found on the child’s underwear.
DNA evidence ‘irrelevant’. jeezuz murphy.
wtf is wrong with cops these days? I got told by the locals that they refuse to consider video evidence because they don’t have ‘time’ to ‘wade thru it all’. hey a-hole, it’s called a fast forward button. another one told me they refuse outright to look at it because it *might* not be useful, which is in fact true, but that determination can ONLY happen if they TAKE A GO&^^AMN LOOK AT IT.
jeezuz murphy 2.0.
Can’t say that I’ve seen a case of talcum powder being associated with cancer. What is missing from the link regarding this case is whether there is a family history of ovarian cancer in the family and did the woman carry one of the mutations which predispose them to ovarian cancer?
Talcum powder was once used to coat surgical gloves but no longer is used given the increased incidence of post-surgical intra-abdominal adhesions as a result. None of the patients I’ve seen with such adhesions have ever associated subsequent cancers with the use of talcum powder. In theory its possible but only someone with no understanding of biology and statistics would claim that use of a talcum power was definitely the cause in a given person.
What we’ve learned from thousands of years of medical experience is that over-using anything may not be good for your health. I’ve seen people with water intoxication get permanent brain damage from hyponatremia, “chemical” phobic vegans get permanent damage to their spinal cords from B12 deficiency as they refuse to take non-natural “chemicals”, severe anemia in kids of vegetarian parents and a host of self-caused diseases where people take no responsibility for their own actions but blame it on someone else. Surprising that chaos theory hasn’t yet percolated down to the general public which still persists in assuming that everything that happens to them has a distinct cause (and someone elses fault if they’re involved in a lawsuit and a legal system which also labors under the same delusion of causality applied to everything). I gave up trying to explain acausal phenomena to my patients and found it best to not explain to patients who were “totally disabled” by a minor fender-bender that their stress level before the accident was analogous to a huge sandpile that just needed a single grain of sand to cause a large avalanche which what the minor accident they were in represented. I fail to see why ICBC should pay a huge amount to someone who hadn’t taken care of their life prior to the accident and likely wouldn’t be any happier after a settlement since the underlying issues are still there.
Gawwd … you are intelligent. Seriously. Not a smidgeon of sarc. I suspect a combination of both nature and nurture in your case. Strong genetics (I’m willing to bet there are many Doctors in your family tree) … and an obviously high level of education witnessed by every word you post. Thank you, for counterbalancing my typically grim view of humanity today.
To your comment about sand piles, please allow me to endorse your observation with the counterpoint of my own life experience.
Parents divorced (violently and hatefully) at age 5. Mother remarried an older man who hated my brother and I (simply because he had already raised his 4-adult kids). Stepdad convinced my mother to go back to court to refuse custody of my brother and I, and return us to our alcoholic father. She succeeded. Life with bio-dad was hell, including the alcoholic pediatrician he remarried (for 3-months). We eventually ended-up in a dump of an apartment, and had to resort to literally stealing our meals from Safeway (because our dad drank his paycheck). When I was 15yo and witnessed my father getting beaten and shoved down a flight of concrete stairs by the apt. Manager for arguing his delinquent rent … I ran-away from home to escape the madness. I ended-up Foster Care, with a family I had known, but were also somewhat dysfunctional. After a fairly horrible childhood (I attended 8 different elementary schools) I was on my own as a freshman in HS … with no other family support (our bio-mother never contacted us ever again). I literally had to hitchhike to HS for two years. I insisted on going to the HS I started, rather than the one local to my Foster Home (it was a much superior school). I eventually ended-up in a second Foster Home of a Christian couple who heard a plea from the -Christian- Dean of boys at my HS. I had finally and desperately confessed my family situation to him. He was shocked to hear my story and appealed to his congregation to help a “good kid” who had no family. Living with this older couple (who had already raised their 4-adult children) was … uncomfortable … to say the least. Very “Christianly” uptight and rigid … but amazingly supportive and welcoming. I could go on … but my point is that my brother and I had it rough … really rough. But both he and I REFUSED to allow the sand pile of our CRAP family and childhood pile-up over our heads. We both ended-up quite successful (my brother and I both bought our first homes at age 24). Our lives were nothing but one car crash after another … but we resisted the “easy” way out of becoming crushed by our troubles. There are a myriad of nuanced events and people which shaped our paths, but it is fascinating to me to consider what it is (biologically, or psychologically) that allows some people to survive and thrive … while others are beaten down and crawl on their hands and knees. Life is indeed a mystery.
your candor is truly admirable.
the 50s were NOT a fun time for moi. I literally got beat up by all the following:
-grade 1 teacher
-classmates
-so called friends
-parents. mother was a sexual abuser, father was a stereotype drunken irishman.
-siblings
-strangers
then I got a full time job @ 20 yrs age, packed on 40 pounds of muscle and proceeded to guard ALL those close to me.
wtf. were these people trying to raise a serial killer?
the good news it was a real lesson in who to trust. a number of successful high points included the day I had my first adrenaline rush and pounded the living crapola out of some playground nazi wannabe who scared the crapola out of me stalking me.
he hung himself. I was then a 12 yr old killer and am *still* proud of the fact I beat the shyt out of a budding ‘boss from hell’ the v-e-r-y first time I stuck up for myself.
the extra good news, nobody in grade school bugged my ass after that.
but that all pales compared to your story. migawd, welcome sir, welcome to the world WE have created consisting of a balance between pursuing a peaceful prosperous life and career, and the ability to inflict a nightmare of horror on anyone who would try to take it away.
I sometimes wonder whether my generation of helicopter parents are actually crippling their children, by making life too easy for them. Struggle and adversity are like heat tempering steel to strengthen our character. Our current generation of snowflakes will melt instantly when presented with adversity … or just blame someone else and demand they pay.
All I ever wanted … was to “be normal”. To have a “normal family” (a bit of a mythology) like my friends. I got really good at projecting a facade of “normality”. And that was what drove me to always do my best … the desire to NEVER repeat the mistakes of my flawed parents. To make something positive out of my life. I never HATED either of my parents, but from a very early age (about 10yo, when given up by my mother) I recognized that my parents were simply weak minded and were to be pitied … not hated. I’ve never had time our the emotional space for bitterness. Too counterproductive.
The worst “scar” that I received from my upbringing ? I tend to be a bit more “selfish” than I should. It became my most needed personality trait … to always, aggressively, look out for MYself (and my older brother … it was US against the world). I thank God for my brothers love and support … he took the brunt of the crap that came our way. It was good being the younger brother.