A federal judge in New York is weighing whether to disclose the names of 33 people with cancer for the first time in a key research report cited by plaintiffs in hundreds of talcum powder lawsuits.

Such a disclosure, even with a protective order, would be unprecedented, according to a lawyer for the hospital that employs the report's author, Dr. Jacqueline Moline, an occupational medicine specialist. Moline's used the medical information of the 33 individuals to conclude in her 2019 article that exposure to cosmetic talc could cause mesothelioma, but she never disclosed their identities.