Siobhan’s family all used a trusted bathroom product for decades… now she’s one of thousands left with terminal cancer

A grandmother has accused Johnson & Johnson of shocking ‘greed’ – after she was diagnosed with terminal ovarian cancer following years of using the consumer health giant’s baby powder.

Siobhan Ryan, 63, is one of 3,000 people in the UK who claim that either they or their family members have developed forms of ovarian cancer or mesothelioma from the bathroom cabinet staple.

Now, the Somerset native is seeking damages from the American pharma giant after she discovered a cyst ‘the size of a large melon, which she is convinced was caused by sustained use of the baby powder without realising its deadly consequences.

Speaking to the Daily Mail, she said Johnson & Johnson needed to be ‘held to account’ for profiting off the item, despite knowing it contained potentially cancer-causing chemicals.

It was only in 2020 that Johnson & Johnson, which denies the claims, recalled 33,000 of its flagship product in the US after research revealed traces of asbestos.

The company only replaced talc – a naturally occurring mineral that is often contaminated with asbestos – with corn starch in its baby powder in the UK three years later.

By then, it was too late for Siobhan – and the other claimants suing J&J in London’s High Court – as her cancer diagnosis has left her weak, easily susceptible to infection, and devastated for her parents, who she fears will outlive her.

The mother-of-two was first exposed to talc as a child.

Like so many others, she said she couldn’t remember a time when there wasn’t a Johnson’s bottle in the bathroom cupboard.

‘It was always in our house,’ she recalled. ‘My mum used it on me as a baby. She used it on herself as well, I used it all through my childhood.It was just one of those things that was always there.’

The powder remained part of her beauty routine into her teens as sports aftercare. 

‘I used to swim a lot as a child, and teenager, and it was always in the swimming bags, because it was great to get you dry after swimming,’ she added.

After Siobhan became a mother herself, she also ensured she was never without the talc-based product, explaining that she never had any reason to doubt the fresh-scented powder. 

‘It was a nice product, it smelled lovely, made your skin feel smooth,’ she shared.

‘It was just a nice product to use, and I would never have any reason to question it. I even used it on my children when they were young.’ 

When her children were growing up, Siobhan confessed she used the powder liberally, sprinkling it under their arms, around the middles and before putting their nappies on. Now, she is furious with worry that that decision could have harmed her kids.  

‘I will never know if using talcum powder had any effect on that,’ she explained.

‘What’s happened has happened, and we can’t live in dread and fear. You have to get on with your life and deal with it but it makes me worry for them.’ 

And just a few years later, Siobhan’s trust in the bathroom cabinet staple would be shattered after being diagnosed with terminal cancer. 

In January 2024, she began to notice worrying changes in her body.

At first she put them down to Covid or the menopause, never finding the time to go to the doctors and focusing instead on going to work and running around after her grandchildren. 

But as time went on, the data manager knew she needed to seek out medical help.

Siobhan was rushed through the NHS, receiving X-rays, ultrasound scans and various tests – and three months after an initial doctor’s appointment, she was told the devastating news. 

Like so many others who are now battling with J&J in the High Court, she had stage 4b ovarian cancer. 

The grandmother said the news came as a complete surprise, stating: ‘It was a shock because I didn’t feel that ill. I didn’t feel that the symptoms that I was getting were suddenly life-limiting.

Siobhan recalled the moment she was told doctors had found the cancer. 

‘At the ultrasound the sonographer was looking quite puzzled, and I said, “are you seeing something?”,’ she remembered.

‘He said, “I’m seeing a really large cyst, I’m struggling to measure it,” and it was 17cm by about 12cm. I literally sat there, numb with shock, just listening.

‘I knew that I was ill, but there was part of me going, “how have I got this ill, and really not known this? I am not this seriously ill”, but they were telling me I’ve got stage 4 cancer.’

The mother-of-two was rushed into surgery for a full hysterectomy, and just four weeks later she was starting chemotherapy.

Siobhan battled sepsis, watched her hair fall out, and went through further rounds of chemotherapy and operations. 

Like thousands of others, some of whom have not lived to see the case reach the High Court, Siobhan says the toll her cancer has taken on her life is immense and she can no longer complete even basic daily activities.

‘I am often able to take my dog on a walk but not at the minute – I can’t go out anywhere. We’ve got parties coming up we’ve had to decline because I can’t go,’ she said.

‘My immune system has taken a real hit from chemo and I have to be so careful now.’

Siobhan added that she rarely goes out shopping anymore and if she does, she wears a mask to protect herself. Some days, she can’t even summon the strength to go out for a walk with her husband. 

She described the effects as ‘isolating’ and added if she’s feeling particularly unwell, she isn’t able to see her grandchildren. 

‘You just have to be more aware of your self care,’ she said. ‘You can’t walk into a busy pub or a supermarket. We can’t go to crowded parties or into a restaurant to eat.’

The data manager added that she is also grieving, knowing she won’t see her grandchildren grow up and grappling with the fact that her parents might outlive her. 

‘I’ve got things to do, I’ve got grandchildren I wanted to watch grow up. I’m too young for this,’ she shared.

‘My parents are still alive and there’s always this horrible morbid thought that I don’t want them to go to my funeral.’

Siobhan said she’s always tried to remain positive – but feels helplessly angry.

‘I’ve always had an optimistic outlook until I got my diagnosis,’ she admitted. ‘I never thought I wouldn’t have a future and now my life revolves around blood tests and medical appointments and scans and treatment.’ 

The grandmother explained she was grateful to the NHS for her treatment but was frustrated that her life had been turned upside down – according to her, simply because she used Johnson’s baby powder as a child.

Like thousands of others, Siobhan has been left feeling abandoned.  

‘One minute, you feel something’s not right, but never in a million years did I think I was going to get a diagnosis of stage 4 ovarian cancer,’ she explained.

And Siobhan is not alone. 

More than 3,000 people have alleged that either they or a family member developed forms of ovarian cancer or mesothelioma from using Johnson’s Baby Powder, and are seeking damages at the High Court in London.

Lawyers for the group said that J&J’concealed’ the risk to the public for decades and continued selling it to customers until 2022. The US firm replaced talc – a naturally occurring mineral that is mined from the earth- with corn starch in its baby powder in the UK since 2023.

Michael Rawlinson KC, for the group of people bringing the claim, said in court documents that ‘there exist very few, if any, commercially exploited talc deposits in the world which do not contain asbestos’.

He added that all of the mines supplying J&J contained asbestos and reports from such mines, as well as its own research alongside existing scientific literature, would have informed them about asbestos contamination.

But Kenvue, which was formerly part of J&J, said the talc used in its products complied with regulations, did not contain asbestos and does not cause cancer.

In court documents filed earlier this month, Mr Rawlinson claimed J&J ‘suppressed information that might indicate that baby powder was contaminated with asbestos’.

He also said J&J ‘lobbied regulators’ to enable the continued sale of its product and sponsored studies in an effort to ‘downplay the dangers’ to human health.

J&J therefore ‘acted in bad faith, to protect the reputation and profit-making potential of baby powder and the goodwill attached to their name’, Mr Rawlinson said.  

In October last year, after several more surgeries and rounds of chemotherapy, a scan confirmed that Siobhan had ‘no evidence of the disease’ which came as a great relief but the data manager was also aware that her cancer could well return. 

‘It was just an amazing feeling. But it’s always niggling in the back of your mind somewhere, if it comes up, because ovarian cancer is one of those that’s hard to treat.

‘It’s not curable, it probably will come back, it’s just a case of when’.

Siobhan recently found a lump in her groin and along with a new tumour, she had a build up of fluid around her lungs making it difficult to breathe, and has had to go back in for treatment. 

While she feels well at the moment, the 63-year-old doesn’t know how much time she has left and has chosen not to find out her prognosis, instead choosing to live her life to the fullest.   

The mother and grandmother says she wants to spend her time walking her dog with her husband and staying in their Cornish Caravan. She hopes to keep fighting J&J for as much time as she has left.

Siobhan told the Daily Mail that for her, it’s not about the compensation, explaining she is unsure she’ll even still be alive to see it.

‘I have no idea if any money will come our way and I may not even be around to benefit from it,’ she shared bluntly. Instead she wants the company to be held accountable. 

Siobhan, along with 3,000 others, joined the claim after seeing an advert for KP Law and realised she may be one of the many people affected. 

‘I joined the claim because it did just make my blood boil, it was corporate greed, and they’ve got away with it for so many years,’ she explained.

‘After my diagnosis I started seeing KP Law adverts talking about Johnson’s baby talc and I thought “I use that and they’re saying about ovarian cancer”.

‘I’d had genetic testing and I’d been negative for cancer so I knew it wasn’t a genetic thing. And I was born in 1962 and it was all around at that time.’

‘It does make you really angry at the thought that a company has marketed a product as safe and pure. They knew very well there was a high risk that it could be contaminated with asbestos.’ 

Following the news of the court case, Siobhan said she was outraged that the company may have hidden harmful chemicals in their products for decades and hopes the case will encourage more people to come forward. 

She said: ‘They didn’t do anything to change the product or to warn people. There was absolutely nothing. There was complete silence on it, and I think that’s really wrong. 

‘I think it’s really wrong that up until 2023, it was still for sale, with a possible risk of contamination. I don’t suppose all of it was contaminated, but it seems to be that seams of talcum powder run very close to seams of asbestos and everybody knows asbestos is a carcinogen.

‘So, if there was any hint that there was asbestos in talcum powder, Johnson & Johnson should have done something years ago, not covered it up and said, oh, we don’t want that to be made public, and carried on marketing it. You know, the marketing is all towards babies and families.’

She added: ‘I think that is absolutely shocking, that they knew about it, they knew there was a risk but they carried on marketing it, and they’ve made an awful lot of money out of that.

‘It is corporate greed and they need to be held to account for it. That company has profited massively. They built their whole reputation on it.’