Pharmaceutical and health goods manufacturer Johnson & Johnson have been ordered to pay $742 million to 22 women who claimed the company’s talc-based products caused them to develop ovarian cancer as a result of the presence of asbestos.

According to Perth Now, the company are currently facing 9000 talc cases, however, this is by far the largest verdict the company has faced to date with a Missouri jury ruling in favour of the women in the Circuit Court of the City of St Louis on Thursday.

Johnson & Johnson will have to pay $US550 million in compensatory damages and $US4.14 billion in punitive damages. The victims said that ongoing use of baby powder and other cosmetic talc products were the reason for their diseases, alleging the company new their talc was contaminated with asbestos since the 70s, failing to warn consumers.

According to Johnson & Johnson, decades of studies show its talc to be safe and deny its talc products have ever contained asbestos

Johnson & Johnson denied that its talc products cause cancer and that they ever contained asbestos. It says decades of studies show its talc to be safe.

Watch this Johnson & Johnson Baby Powder commercial from 1994:

The article was originally published on Brag Magazine