BELLEVILLE - A relative of a woman who died from ovarian cancer is suing the makers of talc-based products and a store where she bought them.
Teresa Foote, as administrator of the estate of late Lillie Foote, filed suit Dec. 9 against Johnson & Johnson and Walgreens Pharmacy in St. Clair County Circuit Court.
Thousands of similar suits, where it is claimed use of Baby Powder and Shower and Shower Products caused the cancer, have been filed across the country. Several have gone to trial. J&J did not immediately respond to a request for comment from the Madison Record on the latest case.
It is alleged that the ovarian cancer was "a direct and proximate result of defendants' negligent and willful and wrongful conduct."
The complaint states that Lillie Foote bought the product from Walgreens on State Street in East St. Louis. It cites several studies dating back many years which found a purported link between talc, a mineral, and ovarian cancer.
Defendants are accused first of strict liability for failure to warn, that they knew that the use of talcum powder "significantly increases the risk of ovarian cancer based upon scientific knowledge dating back to the 1960s."
"The development of ovarian cancer by plaintiff' s decedent was the proximate result of the unreasonably dangerous and defective condition of the products at the time of sale and consumption, including their lack of warnings," the suit states.
The suit also accuses the defendants of negligence for failing to properly test the products, to remove, to inform consumers, and for marketing and labeling them as safe. The suit is also alleged breach of warranties
Teresa Foote is represented by Colleen C. Jones and Bruce R. Cook of Cook, Bartholemew, Cook & Jones of in Belleville.
St. Clair County Circuit Court case number 2019-L-875.