The Shower to Shower powder lawsuits are claims brought by thousands of women who allege that Johnson & Johnson’s talc-based body powder, marketed for decades for daily use on the genital area, caused their ovarian cancer or mesothelioma. More than 67,000 federal cases are now pending against Johnson & Johnson, jury verdicts have climbed into the billions, and three attempts by the company to end the litigation through bankruptcy have all failed.
Shower to Shower was sold as a talc-based powder for nearly 50 years, originally with a formula that was roughly 45 percent talc. Johnson & Johnson sold the brand to Valeant Pharmaceuticals (now Bausch Health) in October 2012, and Bausch quietly replaced the talc with cornstarch in 2018.1YouHaveALawyer.com. Shower to Shower2Bloomberg. Bausch Yanked Talc From Its Body Powder Months Before J&J Recall The lawsuits target the years the product contained talc, and Johnson & Johnson remains the primary defendant.
What Users Are Claiming
The core allegation is that Johnson & Johnson knew for decades its talc could be contaminated with asbestos, knew that genital application of talc had been linked to ovarian cancer, and continued to market Shower to Shower to women anyway without any warning. Advertising told consumers a “sprinkle a day” would keep odor away and encouraged daily use “all over your body.”3Attorney4Life. Shower to Shower Cancer Litigation4CNN. Talc Ovarian Cancer Cases
Plaintiffs rely heavily on Johnson & Johnson’s own records. A Reuters review of thousands of pages of internal memos and lab reports found that company scientists, outside laboratories, and suppliers repeatedly identified asbestos or “fiberform” contaminants in J&J’s talc from the 1950s through the early 2000s. In 1972, a University of Minnesota professor testing a Shower to Shower sample reported what he called “incontrovertible asbestos.” Between 1972 and 1975, at least three separate labs found asbestos in J&J talc, with one describing the levels as “rather high.”5Reuters. Johnson & Johnson Cancer Investigation
The documents also show the company told the FDA in 1976 that no asbestos had been detected in recent samples while withholding contemporaneous lab tests that had found contamination. A New Jersey judge later called this “misrepresentation by omission.”5Reuters. Johnson & Johnson Cancer Investigation Court filings have further alleged the company kept an “enemies list” of scientists who identified asbestos in its products and threatened to sue the FDA if the agency published its own findings.6U.S. Supreme Court. Ingham Amicus Brief, NWHN
Johnson & Johnson denies the allegations. The company maintains its talc products are safe, do not contain asbestos, and do not cause cancer.
What the Science Says
The scientific question splits in two, and the answer differs depending on which part you’re asking about.
Asbestos-contaminated talc is classified as “carcinogenic to humans” by the International Agency for Research on Cancer, the cancer arm of the World Health Organization. That is not seriously contested.
Talc that does not contain asbestos is a harder question. In July 2024, an IARC working group of 29 scientists reclassified talc itself as “probably carcinogenic to humans,” the agency’s second-highest category. The classification rested on limited evidence of ovarian cancer in humans, sufficient evidence of cancer in animal studies, and strong mechanistic evidence that talc causes chronic inflammation and alters cell proliferation. The working group cautioned that in most human studies, asbestos contamination of the talc could not be excluded.7IARC. IARC Press Release on Talc Classification8IARC. IARC Monographs Q&A on Talc
Human studies have pointed in different directions. Case-control studies, which ask cancer patients to recall past product use, have generally found a small increased ovarian cancer risk among talc users. Prospective cohort studies, which follow large groups of women forward in time and are generally considered more reliable, have typically found no significant overall increase. The American Cancer Society has said that until more definitive information is available, people concerned about the risk may choose to avoid or limit use of talc-containing products.9American Cancer Society. Talcum Powder and Cancer
The Biggest Verdicts So Far
Juries have returned some of the largest awards in American product liability history, though several have been reduced or overturned on appeal.
The largest single verdict came in July 2018, when a St. Louis jury ordered Johnson & Johnson to pay $4.69 billion to 22 women who alleged asbestos in the company’s talc caused their ovarian cancer. The award included $550 million in compensatory and $4.14 billion in punitive damages.10New York Times. Johnson & Johnson Talcum Powder The Missouri Court of Appeals upheld the verdict but cut it to $2.1 billion, mainly because 17 of the 22 plaintiffs were not Missouri residents. The appeals court found “clear and convincing evidence” that J&J had acted with “evil motive or reckless indifference.”11Asbestos.com. Johnson & Johnson Asbestos Talc Missouri
Verdicts in 2025 grew larger. In October, a California jury awarded $966 million to the family of Mae Moore, who died of mesothelioma.12Fierce Pharma. Baltimore Jury Orders J&J to Pay $1.5B In December, a Baltimore jury awarded $1.56 billion to Cherie Craft, a 59-year-old Maryland woman diagnosed with peritoneal mesothelioma in January 2024 after decades of using Johnson’s Baby Powder. That award, split between $59.8 million in compensatory damages and $1.5 billion in punitive damages against J&J and its subsidiary Pecos River Talc, was the largest ever to a single talc plaintiff. J&J called the verdict “egregious and patently unconstitutional” and said it would appeal.13Reuters. J&J Vows Appeal After Record $1.5B Talc Cancer Award Plaintiffs collected more than $2.5 billion in talc-related verdicts across 2025.
Not every trial has gone for plaintiffs. A California appeals court overturned a $417 million verdict in 2019, and a New Jersey judge dismissed two cases in 2016 citing unreliable expert evidence.14Hubert Thomas Law. Johnson and Johnson Baby Powder Lawsuit Results have varied sharply by jurisdiction.
Why There Is No Global Settlement
Johnson & Johnson has tried three times to resolve every talc claim in one move through the bankruptcy system, using a maneuver known as the “Texas two-step.” The company creates a new subsidiary, transfers all talc liabilities to it, and files that subsidiary for Chapter 11, which would freeze the lawsuits and push all claims into a bankruptcy trust.
The first attempt, filed by a subsidiary called LTL Management in October 2021, was dismissed by the Third Circuit Court of Appeals in January 2023. The court ruled LTL was not in genuine financial distress because it was backed by more than $61 billion in funding from other J&J entities, and held that “good intentions—such as to protect the J&J brand or comprehensively resolve litigation—do not suffice alone.”15U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit. In Re LTL Management LLC Opinion
A second filing with a smaller funding agreement was dismissed on the same grounds in June 2024.16Goldberg Segalla. Third Circuit Affirms Dismissal of LTL Management Second Chapter 11 Petition The third attempt, through a new subsidiary called Red River Talc, offered between roughly $8 and $9 billion for a claims trust. J&J said more than 80 percent of claimants had approved, but Texas bankruptcy judge Christopher Lopez questioned the vote, finding thousands of people had not been given enough time to participate. He dismissed the case in March 2025, and J&J announced it would not appeal, choosing instead to litigate case by case.17Drugwatch. Talcum Powder Settlements
Where the Litigation Stands Now
As of mid-2026, the talc litigation is the largest active multidistrict litigation in the United States. More than 67,600 lawsuits are consolidated in MDL No. 2738, In re: Johnson & Johnson Talcum Powder Products Marketing, Sales Practices and Products Liability Litigation, before Judge Michael A. Shipp in the U.S. District Court for the District of New Jersey.18U.S. District Court for the District of New Jersey. Johnson & Johnson Talcum Powder Litigation The first federal bellwether trial, Judkins v. Johnson & Johnson, an ovarian cancer case brought by a New Hampshire woman, was selected in July 2025. Bellwether results do not bind other plaintiffs but often shape how remaining cases settle.
Separately, J&J reached a $700 million settlement in 2024 with 43 state attorneys general to resolve claims of deceptive marketing. That agreement bars the company from ever again manufacturing, marketing, selling, or distributing any baby or body powder containing talc in the United States, including Shower to Shower.19Texas Attorney General. Landmark $700 Million Settlement With Johnson & Johnson That settlement did not resolve the individual injury claims.
Johnson & Johnson stopped selling talc-based Baby Powder in the United States and Canada in 2020 and ended global talc production in 2023, switching to a cornstarch formula.20Johnson & Johnson. Discontinuation of Talc-Based Johnson’s Baby Powder in U.S. and Canada21CNBC. J&J to Stop Selling Talc-Based Baby Powder Globally in 2023 Bloomberg Intelligence has estimated the final cost to resolve all talc claims could reach $11 billion, well above what the failed bankruptcy proposals put on the table.17Drugwatch. Talcum Powder Settlements
Who the Lawsuits Cover
The pending claims involve people, mostly women, who used talc-based Shower to Shower or Johnson’s Baby Powder and were later diagnosed with ovarian cancer or mesothelioma. Because Bausch Health switched Shower to Shower to a cornstarch formula in 2018, product bought after that reformulation is not part of these talc claims, and neither is Johnson’s cornstarch baby powder. If you used the talc version and were later diagnosed with one of the cancers at issue, the litigation is active and cases are moving forward individually rather than through a global settlement.