LONDON: UK claimants on Wednesday announced legal action against US pharmaceutical and cosmetics giant Johnson & Johnson, alleging that women diagnosed with cancers were to asbestos in the company’s talcum powder. J&J risks UK court action for the first time over the allegations, having faced a series of similar lawsuits in North America. KP law, the firm representing about 2,000 claimants, said “women who have been diagnosed with life-chan­ging and life-limiting cancers were exposed to asbestos contained within the company’s talcum powder”. In response Erik Haas, J&J’s worldwide vice president of litigation, said “Johnson & Johnson takes the issue of talc safety incredibly seriously and always has”. Haas added that J&J’s own analysis found an absence of asbestos contamination in its products and said “independent science makes clear that talc is not associated with the risk of ovarian cancer nor mesothelioma”.