Is the FDA Poised to Ban Talc?

The FDA may be poised to ban talc as an ingredient in the products it regulates, including foods, pharmaceuticals, and cosmetics.

The agency convened what it called an expert panel on talc on May 20, led by FDA Commissioner Martin Makary, MD, MPH, and Principal Deputy Commissioner Sara Brenner, MD, MPH. The 2-hour meeting was livestreamed. 

But, unlike a traditional FDA advisory committee meeting, there were no lengthy, data-driven presentations from panelists or manufacturers that might be impacted by any agency decision. There were no votes on any questions, and none of the panelists disclosed any potential conflicts.

Makary said the meeting was being held to listen to what “the experts think we should be doing about it, if anything at all.” Talc is carcinogenic and likely pro-inflammatory, said Makary. “I’m not suggesting that talc is the driver of our chronic disease epidemic, but if we generally believe it’s pro inflammatory, and kids are ingesting it, aside from the potential cancer-causing effects, shouldn’t there be reason for concern?”

“I think we need to take a serious look, not just at talc, but at all chemicals,” around which the “scientific community has been waving a flag for decades, saying, stop and take a look around,” said Makary.

Use of talc around the genital area has been linked to ovarian cancer, and in 2024, the World Health Organization’s International Agency for Research on Cancer classified talc as “probably carcinogenic to humans.” 

A mineral, talc is usually mined from open pits and crushed into a fine powder that is used in a variety of products. It is most commonly found in gums and candy, said panelist George Tidmarsh, MD, an adjunct professor of pediatrics and neonatology at Stanford University, California. It is also in many over-the-counter vitamins and medications and is used to coat cheeses or to prevent flour and rice from caking. 

On a talc information webpage, the FDA said that talc is used in cosmetics to absorb moisture, to prevent caking, and to make facial makeup opaque. In December 2024, the agency proposed to require manufacturers to begin testing and assessing talc-containing cosmetics for potential contamination with the cancer-causing mineral asbestos. The two minerals are often found together in mines.

The FDA experts mostly said there was no reason to allow talc in any product.

Panelist Nicolas Wentzensen, MD, PhD, a cancer epidemiologist at the National Cancer Institute, said that the data on whether talc led to cancer in other body parts besides the ovaries was not a “slam dunk” in part because of asbestos contamination. Studies with cosmetic products are also difficult because they are often based on self-reports, he said.

“There is a lot more that we do not know about talc, than what we know,” he said. But conducting studies to evaluate exposures could take many years, said Wentzensen. “If there’s a safe, functionally equal alternative that avoids the potential harms, then that should be really considered,” he said.

Panelist Nicole Kleinstreuer, PhD, acting deputy director of the National Institutes of Health, who was recently director of the National Toxicology Center’s interagency center for the evaluation of alternative toxicological methods, said that a preliminary assessment had shown that magnesium stearate “has a much more favorable safety profile, particularly in terms of inhalation risk, carcinogenicity, and biological clearance.”

Another panelist, Joellen M. Schildkraut, PhD, MPH, an epidemiologist at the Rollins School of Public Health at Emory University, Atlanta — who has demonstrated an increased risk of ovarian cancer with body powder use — cautioned that her work could not show causality. Still, “if you don’t need to use it, why use it, why take a chance,” said Schildkraut.

She said she “would be in favor of eliminating” talc from the FDA’s regulated products.

Makary told panelists that the FDA “will take a close look at this literature and get back with you as we have questions.”

Alicia Ault is a Saint Petersburg, Florida-based freelance journalist whose work has appeared in many health and science publications, including Smithsonian.com. You can find her on X @aliciaault and on Bluesky @aliciaault.bsky.social.