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Comment by jey | Hacker News Reader

Isn't the mechanism for the talc -> {ovarian cancer, mesothelioma} connection much clearer and stronger though? That talc co-occurs with asbestos, which is known to be highly carcinogenic and to cause the types of cancers being encountered here. The asbestos fibers were also (allegedly) found in laboratory analysis of samples of the commercial talc powder product.

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Clearly, you’re one of those that feel like facts matter. This feels like one of those battles to be fought in the court of public opinion and not a court of law. In that type of fight, suppressing facts while speaking your narrative as loudly as possible is a winning move

>Isn't the mechanism for the talc -> {ovarian cancer, mesothelioma} connection much clearer and stronger though?

No; not at all. It's extremely dubious indeed, in fact.

You’re just creating FUD. Can you instead be more specific?

> The asbestos fibers were also (allegedly) found in laboratory analysis of samples of the commercial talc powder product.

Were they found in ovarian cancers? What's the clear link?

This is transitive risk.

Asbestos is clearly linked to cancer > asbestos was found in talc and known to form with talc naturally > risk of using talc that isn’t pure.

The problem is whether talc is pure. At that point it becomes a question of how much you trust J&J to verify that. My guess is that different mined sources varied in asbestos composition and there likely was some contamination that went undetected. But who knows.

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