Avon, the once-mighty direct gross sales corporate because of its military of door-to-door saleswomen, is submitting for chapter amid a mountain of court cases alleging talcum powder in its merchandise reasons most cancers.
Avon Merchandise, the US-based “non-operational” maintaining corporate, is looking for Bankruptcy 11 chapter coverage “to deal with its debt and legacy talc liabilities,” the corporate mentioned in a press unencumber.
Avon, as soon as valued at round $21 billion, ceased promoting merchandise in america in 2016 when the mother or father corporate divested its North American-based industry. The corporate stays energetic in global markets.
The wonder emblem makes use of talc, a mineral that has been connected to most cancers, in face powders and eye shadows.
Avon has filed for Bankruptcy 11 chapter coverage in america. Casimiro – inventory.adobe.com
In recent times, some 200 court cases had been filed towards Avon that accuse the corporate of marketing talc merchandise that have been infected with asbestos — any other carcinogen.
John Dubel, chair of Avon Merchandise, mentioned the chapter submitting “will maximize the price of our belongings and permit us to deal with our duties in an orderly method.”
“We stay considering advancing our industry technique across the world, together with modernizing our direct promoting style and reigniting the logo to boost up expansion,” added Avon CEO Kristof Neirynck, who took over previous this yr.
In December 2022, a Los Angeles jury ordered Avon to pay greater than $50 million to an Arizona girl who mentioned she used to be recognized with most cancers after she used beauty merchandise that contained talc which used to be tainted with asbestos.
Avon merchandise are bought by way of direct gross sales via impartial vendors. Getty Pictures
Closing month, a Chicago-area guy who labored as a janitor at an Avon production plant in Illinois used to be awarded $24.4 million via a jury after he used to be recognized with mesothelioma.
The ones verdicts adopted pharmaceutical massive Johnson & Johnson agreeing to a $6.5 billion agreement previous this yr following claims that its talc-based child powder used to be accountable for ovarian most cancers diagnoses.
Avon has been sued via ratings of people that say their talc merchandise brought about their most cancers diagnoses. SewcreamStudio – inventory.adobe.com
The $350 billion New Jersey-based corporate additionally thought to be a chapter submitting as a way to handle the tens of hundreds of court cases which have been filed via those that say they advanced diseases via the use of its merchandise.
J&J and Avon have each denied claims that their talc merchandise reason most cancers.
The logo has mentioned that it “best makes use of beauty grade talc which has been examined to verify that it does now not include asbestos.”
