Women were told that putting the powder in their underwear would reduce odor, only for a link to emerge suggesting that talcum powder could cause ovarian cancer. This information came to light in 2006, when the World Health Organization issued a warning—and in 2007, Johnson & Johnson agreed that they would stop marketing talcum powder as a genital deodorant . . . to white women. (In 2023, Johnson & Johnson settled a $8.9 billion lawsuit regarding talc as a carcinogen.)
