In the 1970s, a pair of doctors at Mount Sinai Hospital in New York tested 21 body and baby powders from local stores. In 1976 they published a study reporting that 10 of those products contained asbestiform fibers, with Colgate-Palmolive's Cashmere Bouquet body powder showing some of the highest levels. They called for regulatory action and recommended more studies of the possible health hazards of these products.

Despite the plaintiffs bar's attraction to asbestos litigation, this study didn't trigger a wave of cases by people who had used consumer talc products.

Now, after lying dormant for four decades, talc litigation has emerged as a threat for Colgate-Palmolive Company, Johnson & Johnson, and others in the talcum powder business. The plaintiffs bar, searching for a new front for asbestos lawsuits, is increasingly interested in talc. Mark Lanier's firm, for instance, has started representing plaintiffs who claim they got ovarian cancer from talc. Other lawsuits contend that plaintiffs developed mesothelioma from inhaling talc that contained asbestos.