Recently, The International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC), the World Health Organization’s cancer agency, has classified talc as “probably carcinogenic” for humans. However an outside expert warned against misinterpreting the announcement as a “smoking gun”.
This decision, announced on Friday, July 5, 2024, was based on several lines of evidence: “limited evidence” that talc could cause ovarian cancer in humans, “sufficient evidence” of its link to cancer in rats, and “strong mechanistic evidence” indicating carcinogenic signs in human cells.
Talc, a naturally occurring mineral often used in talcum baby powder and cosmetics, poses the most significant risk during mining, processing, or manufacturing processes, according to the Lyon-based IARC. The agency pointed to numerous studies showing an increased rate of ovarian cancer in women who used talc on their genitals. However, they could not completely rule out the possibility that some of the talc in these studies was contaminated with asbestos, a known carcinogen.
“A causal role for talc could not be fully established,” the agency noted in its findings published in The Lancet Oncology.
Kevin McConway, a statistician at the UK’s Open University who was not involved in the research, cautioned against misinterpreting the IARC’s announcement as definitive proof that talc causes cancer. He emphasized that the IARC’s evaluation merely addresses whether the substance has the potential to cause cancer under unspecified conditions.
The announcement comes just weeks after US pharmaceutical and cosmetics giant Johnson & Johnson agreed to pay $700 million to settle allegations it misled customers about the safety of its talcum-based powder products.
