Mesothelioma Talcum Powder Lawsuit Filed Against Chanel

A mesothelioma talc lawsuit filed on Wednesday against Chanel in New York state court alleges that Chanel’s talc-based after-birth products caused a woman’s mesothelioma.

The plaintiff, Dolores Gomez, used Chanel talc-based after-birth products for 30 years as a routine hygiene product. According to the lawsuit, Chanel, Publix, and Woolworth (now Footlocker) were aware of the presence of asbestos in its product but failed to adequately warn the public about the dangerous chemical’s presence.

“The defendants’ products failed to contain, and continue to this day not to contain, adequate warnings and/or instructions regarding the increased risk of mesothelioma with the use of their products by women,” Gomez said. “The defendants continue to market, advertise and expressly represent to the general public that it is safe for women to use their product regardless of application.”

Gomez went on to state that safer alternatives to the defendants’ talc-based products exist – these cornstarch-based alternatives produced similar effectiveness to talc-based products. Yet, the defendants continue to market talc-based products as safe and effective.

Gomez argued that the companies’ decades’ long failures and attempts to hide contaminates in talc-based products put her and other consumers at risk. Since the 1930s, scientific research has indicated the presence of asbestos and other dangerous chemicals in talc.

“Within the next several decades, an ever-growing body of medical and scientific literature demonstrated that direct and secondary exposure to talc, including asbestos-containing talc, was hazardous to exposed person’s health in that it could cause lung disease, cancer, and death,” Gomez said.

She went on to state that the manufacturers failed to disclose to the FDA that they were not testing their products for asbestos or testing at a superficial level. According to Gomez, the defendants did not disclose to the FDA that they were not testing off-the-shelf talc powder products, but only batch samples that were never from the end product.