Johnson & Johnson, once the “Most Trusted Brand in America,” has surely had more than its share of legal troubles in recent years. The pharmaceutical and health care products giant is reaping the harvest it has sown – in some cases, decades ago. The most recent cause of action: the seemingly innocuous Baby Powder, used by generations of women as part of their feminine hygiene routine, is now strongly implicated in cases of ovarian cancer.

So far, there are more than 1,000 lawsuits pending against J&J across the U.S. At the center of those lawsuits is not the Baby Powder itself, but rather one of its ingredients, talc. According to Dr. Philip Landrigan, a professor at the Icahn School of Medicine in New York, talc is similar to asbestos. “Much talc contains asbestos-like fibers; and asbestos has been determined by the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC), the cancer arm of the World Health Organization, to be a definite cause of ovarian cancer,” he says.

Talc has been a suspected carcinogen for over fifty years. Research suggests that when talc is applied to the genital region, particles migrate to the ovaries, where they cause inflammation in the same way that asbestos fibers do. A study published in the October 2014 issue of the Journal of Occupational and Environmental Health showed that asbestos fibers were present in cosmetic talcum powder products. Several years ago, the IARC conducted an analysis of studies showing a “modest, but unusually consistent, excess in risk” in the use of products containing talc.

So far, juries have been in agreement with this conclusion. In all but two cases that have gone to trial so far, courts have found in favor of the plaintiffs. In two of these cases, jury awards exceeded $50 million.

Plaintiffs claim that manufacturers of talc-containing products failed to issue clear warnings about the risks associated with the genital application of talc, and that such willful negligence contributed to the plaintiffs’ injuries. The defendants in these cases continue to maintain that their products are safe when used as directed; J&J is appealing three multi-million dollar judgments. However, since evidence of talc’s carcinogenicity has existed since the 1960s, it is difficult to imagine that such appeals will succeed.

The next talcum lawsuits are scheduled to go to trial in 2017.