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Johnson & Johnson (J&J) is on the brink of announcing support for a $6.48 billion settlement to resolve thousands of legal claims related to its talc products, including Baby Powder.

According to Reuters, sources reveal that J&J plans to disclose as early as Friday, August 16, that at least 75% of claimants have voted in favor of this settlement, which aims to address accusations that the company's talc products caused cancer. This level of support meets the legal requirement for bankruptcy settlement approval, with the company's subsidiary expected to seek bankruptcy protection as soon as next week.

While Johnson & Johnson (J&J) insists that their talc products are safe and do not cause cancer, they are using a legal strategy to settle all current and future claims. This involves creating a new company to declare bankruptcy, which would let J&J settle the lawsuits without the entire company going bankrupt.

Is Johnson's Talcum Powder Safe?

The current settlement offer addresses claims related to ovarian and gynecological cancers, which make up a large part of J&J's legal troubles. It does not include claims related to mesothelioma, a rare cancer linked to asbestos in talc.

J&J has already settled most mesothelioma cases outside of bankruptcy and resolved state-level claims about misleading safety information, which had previously complicated the settlement process.

The new plan involves soliciting settlement votes before the bankruptcy filing, differing from previous attempts where votes were collected post-filing. This aims to use Chapter 11 proceedings to enforce a global settlement that would end all related lawsuits and prevent new claims, mitigating the risk of potentially costly future verdicts.

J&J has had mixed success in trials, including a $2.1 billion loss in a Missouri case for ovarian-cancer victims, and $260 million in Oregon.

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