Why talcum powder may be a thing of the past – Helen Martin

As Johnson and Johnson stops selling talc-based baby powder in the US amid disputed claims of a link to cancer, Helen Martin recalls being told not to use talcum powder more than 60 years ago.

Talcum powder may be going out of fashion, says Helen Martin

Mention “Johnson” and everyone assumes it refers to PM Boris. So, I was surprised reading a headline in the Daily Mail saying: “Johnson’s baby powder axed in US cancer row.”

It was of course Johnson & Johnson, still being sold in the UK but not in America after women who used it on their genitalia claimed they developed ovarian cancer, and damaged their lungs and other organs if they wafted it under their arms. They won some court cases.

Scientists today say they’re not sure, but more than 60 years ago, my sister who was a doctor and my mother a nurse both advised me not to use talc, any talc, in either area. Yet my mother had used Johnson’s changing my nappies! How could I understand that?

My sister warned patients not to use soap “down there” either – just water or immersion in a bubble bath.

By the time my son (now 31) was born, it was obvious he wasn’t at such a risk, but I didn’t use baby powder on him either.

Seventeen years ago, when I had my first breast cancer, a nurse told me again not to use talc under my arms.

Why nowadays would anyone use it apart from possibly inside rubber or latex gloves to make them easier to don?

There’s no proof here that it does any harm. But who, apart from the ancient and old-fashioned in the UK or the US, would put dry powder on their skin? There’s a body mystery!

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