TORRANCE – A New York occupational medicine physician on Monday told a courtroom in a trial over allegations that Johnson & Johnson Baby Powder caused a woman’s mesothelioma that there was asbestos in the powder and the company had tried to get rid of it to no avail.
“In the late 1950s, Johnson & Johnson contracted with labs and universities to evaluate the baby powder,” Dr. Jacqueline Moline told the courtroom. “They used very different methodologies and they found measurable needles (fibers) in the cosmetic talc. They also tried to see if there was a method to remove it (asbestos). It was unsuccessful.”
Moline has been a frequent expert witness for plaintiffs in earlier Johnson & Johnson talc powder trials.
The trial in the Los Angeles Superior Court is being streamed live courtesy of Courtroom View Network.
Plaintiff Carolyn Weirick, a former school counselor, sued Johnson & Johnson claiming that the baby powder she used for 40 years caused her to develop mesothelioma, a rare and deadly cancer of the linings of the lungs. Her attorneys asked for $28 million in damages and allege Johnson & Johnson ignored findings of asbestos in the baby powder and an adult product called Shower to Shower. Her attorneys also allege the company twisted science to continue profiting and to preserve the company’s reputation.
Attorneys for Johnson & Johnson countered that cosmetic talc powder does not cause mesothelioma and that plaintiff's attorneys imagined asbestos where there was none.
Moline said multiple tests performed by a number of organizations, such as the Colorado School of Mines, had found asbestos in the baby powder. She said Dr. William Longo, a Georgia-based microscope researcher who testified earlier for the plaintiff, had done simulation testing with one of the baby powder bottles Weirick had possessed.
“Did he (Longo) find asbestos?” Leah Kagan, an attorney for Weirick, asked.
“He did,” Moline answered.
The current permissible amount of asbestos allowed by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) is 0.1 fibers per cubic centimeter.
Moline said asbestos fibers are microscopic.
“You could have 200,000 (fibers) on a penny on (Abraham) Lincoln’s nose,” she said. “Millions of fibers can be potentially breathed in.”
Moline said all people breathe in small amounts of asbestos fibers that are not a threat called background levels of exposure.
The case is one of hundreds pending across the country, most filed by women claiming the baby powder caused them to develop ovarian cancer. Mesothelioma is a much rarer disease with 3,200 cases reported annually in the U.S.
The Weirick lawsuit was first heard in September of last year in Pasadena but was inconclusive because of a deadlocked jury. Another trial to decide the issue was moved to Torrance and resumed Sept. 9.