Billion Dollar Talc Ruling in the US

Johnson and Johnson has been ordered to pay more than four billion dollars in damages to 22 women who say that their products gave them cancer. Professor Paul Pharoah, who’s a cancer epidemiologist from the University of Cambridge and has acted as a paid expert to one of the law firms representing Johnson and Johnson, says he doesn’t believe that the current scientific evidence supports the verdict in the United States - and women who’ve used talc shouldn’t worry.

“Fasting” diets – where you fast or eat very few calories on some days and then eat normally on others – are all the rage in California. So we sent our reporter Alison van Diggelen to find out whether there is any evidence that they are any better than regular diets for weight loss.

One in three people in the world would see better if they wore the glasses they need. In many parts of the world there’s a shortage of skilled screening staff – but a new vision screening app for teachers to use in rural Kenya has more than doubled the number of children turning up for follow-up clinic appointments – to be fitted with glasses which help them to thrive at school.

(Photo: Baby Powder made by Johnson and Johnson © Justin Sullivan/Getty Images)