Researchers and doctors have tried to establish a connection between the use of genital talc and the risk of ovarian cancer for some time now, and a new study has established that women who use talcum powder are at a greater risk of developing the disease.
The topic has been in the news recently, with a St. Louis jury ordering Johnson & Johnson to pay $72 million in damages to the family of the late Jacqueline Salter Fox, of Birmingham, Ala., who, according to her lawsuit, developed ovarian cancer after using Johnson & Johnson's baby powder.
The Center for Disease Control and Prevention notes that every year "about 20,000 women in the United States get ovarian cancer. Among women in the United States, ovarian cancer is the eighth most common cancer and the fifth leading cause of cancer death," statistics that roughly translate to 14,500 women succumbing to the disease annually in the United States, alone.
A 2013 study by Harvard University of 8,525 ovarian cancer cases and 9,859 controls found that "genital powder use was associated with a similar increased risk of borderline and invasive ovarian cancer overall."
Now, a new study has found that the risk of ovarian cancer is about 33 percent higher among women who regularly used talcum powder in their genital area.
"This is an easily modified risk factor. Talc is a good drying agent, but women should know that if it's used repeatedly, it can get into the vagina and into their upper genital tract. And I think if they knew that, they wouldn't use it," said lead author Dr. Daniel W. Cramer, who heads the Obstetrics and Gynecology Epidemiology Center at Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston and studied 2,041 women with ovarian cancer and 2,100 similar women without ovarian cancer about their talcum powder use.
"The recent paper in Epidemiology has provided additional support for an association between talc use and ovarian cancer from a case-control study. Scientific consensus emerges over time, especially in cases like this, where the results have been somewhat inconsistent. While this recent analysis provides additional evidence supporting an association of talc and ovarian cancer, it will be important to test the methods used in this analysis in other data to see if the findings are confirmed," said Dr. Nicolas Wentzensen, head of the clinical epidemiology unit for the National Cancer Institute.
Johnson and Johnson maintains that talc is safe. "With over 100 years of use, few ingredients have the same demonstrated performance, mildness and safety profile as cosmetic talc," a company statement says.
The study has been published in the journal Epidemiology.
