<p>A US court has upheld a verdict that talcum powder sold by Johnson & Johnson caused ovarian cancer and ordered the pharmaceutical giant to pay $2.1 billion in damages.</p>.<p>The decision by the Missouri Court of Appeals cut by more than half the $4.4 billion a jury had awarded 22 people in 2018. The court agreed that some of the plaintiffs should not have been included in the case as they were from outside the state.</p>.<p>But the Tuesday decision upheld the awarding of damages for the company "knowingly selling products that contained asbestos to consumers."</p>.<p>"Because defendants are large, multi-billion-dollar corporations, we believe a large amount of punitive damages is necessary to have an effect in this case," the judgement said.</p>.<p>"It is impossible to place a monetary value on the physical, mental and emotional anguish plaintiffs suffered because of their injury caused by defendants."</p>.<p>A spokeswoman for Johnson & Johnson said the company would appeal the decision in the Supreme Court of Missouri, according to the Wall Street Journal.</p>.<p>Johnson & Johnson has faced thousands of lawsuits across the United States alleging it failed to warn consumers of the risk of cancer from asbestos in its talc-based products.</p>.<p>In 2019, a California jury became the latest to award millions in damages to a plaintiff who said the company's baby powder had given her terminal cancer.</p>.<p>Last month the firm announced it was discontinuing production of its talc-based baby powder in the US and Canada, in part due to the "constant barrage of litigation advertising" over the product.</p>.<p>It will continue to sell the product in the rest of the world, it added.</p>
<p>A US court has upheld a verdict that talcum powder sold by Johnson & Johnson caused ovarian cancer and ordered the pharmaceutical giant to pay $2.1 billion in damages.</p>.<p>The decision by the Missouri Court of Appeals cut by more than half the $4.4 billion a jury had awarded 22 people in 2018. The court agreed that some of the plaintiffs should not have been included in the case as they were from outside the state.</p>.<p>But the Tuesday decision upheld the awarding of damages for the company "knowingly selling products that contained asbestos to consumers."</p>.<p>"Because defendants are large, multi-billion-dollar corporations, we believe a large amount of punitive damages is necessary to have an effect in this case," the judgement said.</p>.<p>"It is impossible to place a monetary value on the physical, mental and emotional anguish plaintiffs suffered because of their injury caused by defendants."</p>.<p>A spokeswoman for Johnson & Johnson said the company would appeal the decision in the Supreme Court of Missouri, according to the Wall Street Journal.</p>.<p>Johnson & Johnson has faced thousands of lawsuits across the United States alleging it failed to warn consumers of the risk of cancer from asbestos in its talc-based products.</p>.<p>In 2019, a California jury became the latest to award millions in damages to a plaintiff who said the company's baby powder had given her terminal cancer.</p>.<p>Last month the firm announced it was discontinuing production of its talc-based baby powder in the US and Canada, in part due to the "constant barrage of litigation advertising" over the product.</p>.<p>It will continue to sell the product in the rest of the world, it added.</p>