TORRANCE – An asbestos researcher who appeared as a witness for Johnson & Johnson on Thursday indicated that plaintiff Carolyn Weirick developed mesothelioma not from baby powder, but because she was unlucky.
Attorneys for Weirick portrayed the witness, Dr. Richard Attanoos, a pathologist at Cardiff University in Wales, U.K., as a highly-paid, biased, pro-industry spokesman.
“You’ve made in excess of $2 million in the U.S in talc litigation cases?” asked Jay Stuemke, an attorney for Weirick.
“Yes,” answered Attanoos.
Stuemke called attention to an invoice Attanoos had submitted for testimony, including a $44,000 trial fee for a total $75,000, and asked if it was well above his $500 per hour fee.
“No, sir,” Attanoos responded. “That is consistent with how I work.”
The trial in the Los Angeles Superior Court is being streamed live courtesy of Courtroom View Network.
Weirick sued Johnson & Johnson over allegations asbestos in the baby powder she used caused her to develop mesothelioma, a fatal illness. The case is among the latest of hundreds of lawsuits filed by women against the baby powder maker across the country, most alleging the company’s talc powder products caused them to develop ovarian cancer.
Mesothelioma is a much rarer disease with 3,200 cases in the U.S. reported annually.
Weirick, a former school counselor, reportedly used the baby powder and an adult product called Shower to Shower for 60 years. Doctors give her little chance for survival.
Attanoos told John Ewald, an attorney for Johnson & Johnson, that a medical procedure called pleurodesis for conditions such as a collapsed lung injected large amounts of talc into the chest cavity of patients. He said no cases of mesothelioma had resulted from such procedures.
“They’re placing a concentration (talc) right where the mesothelium (chest cavity) exists,” he said. “Not one case of mesothelioma from this procedure.”
Attanoos added that tests conducted with lab rats injected with cosmetic talc mined in Italy, the same kind Johnson & Johnson used in its baby powder, also confirmed no mesothelioma.
“There were no tumors even though vast (talc) exposures,” Attanoos said.
He added that given such results it would be implausible to expect that lower amounts of exposure to talc powder could cause mesothelioma.
“What caused Carolyn Weirick’s mesothelioma?” Ewald asked.
“It was a naturally occurring cancer,” Attanoos said.
Under cross-examination, Stuemke asked Attanoos if mesothelioma caused enormous pain and suffering. Attanoos agreed.
“It will cause her (Weirick’s) death?”
“Yes,” Attanoos said.
“She used talc powder almost every day for 60 years and that’s your opinion (naturally occurring cancer)?” Stuemke asked.
“There is no evidence, even at high levels, that talc powder causes mesothelioma,” Attanoos said.
“You saw that both her treating surgeons said she had considerable exposure to dust from talc?” Stuemke asked. “You didn’t even know the dose, that she had used talc thousands of times.”
Attanoos responded that he considered that fact but had formed his opinions based on studies including those done on animals.
“You don’t look at the number of (talc) applications?”
“It’s outside my scope,” Attanoos said.
Stuemke asked Attanoos if 25 percent of his time was spent testifying in litigation cases in the U.S.
“That’s reasonable,” Attanoos said.