A University of San Diego gynecologic oncologist told a California jury Tuesday that identifying the cause of ovarian cancer in any specific woman is “impossible,” injecting high-stakes uncertainty into a bellwether battle over claims that Johnson & Johnson’s talc products triggered two women’s fatal disease.
Defense Expert Rejects Talc Link
Testifying for J&J in the J&J Women’s Cancer Talc suit, Dr. Cheryl Saenz said ovarian cancer stems from a maze of influences — genetics, aging, and environmental exposures — but insisted feminine hygiene use of talc is not among them.
She said scientific literature on talc and cancer risk is “inconsistent at best,” pushing back against decades of litigation and industry scrutiny.
Saenz reviewed one plaintiff’s medical file and testified the woman’s cancer was likely “sporadic,” arising from random gene mutations. Age and prolonged hormone therapy also placed her at heightened risk.
“In my experience, we cannot identify why any one individual woman developed ovarian cancer,” she said. “It’s impossible to do that in any one individual woman.”
