Watch: U.S. Food and Drug Administration Expert Panel Discusses Talc

 

"Expert Panels with the FDA" are a series of roundtable discussions to provide an open public discourse on the latest medical and scientific information on several important topics. At this roundtable, experts will be asked to discuss health concerns related to the use of talc products. Dr. Martin Makary is the Commissioner of the Food and Drug Administration (FDA).

Relevant to this discussion is this academic paper published by RealClearJournals’ Journal of the Academy of Public Health.

Read more: Reviewing the Safety of our Foods and Drugs: An Urgent Need for a Comprehensive Reevaluation by FDA of Talc in The American Food and Drug Supply.


Dr. George F. Tidmarsh, co-author of the study, spoke at the FDA roundtable. Read his remarks:

DR. SARA BRENNER, DEPUTY COMMISSIONER, FOOD AND DRUG ADMINISTRATION: Here we go. So first we will go with George Tidmarch, MD, PhD, our adjunct professor of pediatrics neonatology from Stanford. Take it away, Dr. Tidmarch.

DR. GEORGE F. TIDMARSH: Thank you, Dr. Brenner. Thank you, Dr. Brenner. Welcome, everyone.

I'm very happy to see everybody here today. As Dr. Brenner mentioned, I'm adjunct professor of pediatrics and neonatology at Stanford University School of Medicine. And I'm very thankful to Commissioner McCary for your leadership today in convening this panel.

I think it takes a lot of energy. It takes a lot of foresight and leadership skills. And I want to thank you for that.

I want to also thank you and Secretary Kennedy for your vision and hard work every day improving the lives of Americans. There's no better way to, in my mind, spend your time, and there's nothing more laudable. And FDA couldn't have a better leader.

Thank you. And it's without your leadership that we wouldn't be addressing some of these very important, meaningful dangers in our food and drug supply. It's actually somewhat amazing to me as I have dove into this how much we've neglected to actually look at compounds, additives in our food and drug supply that are dangerous to us.

So I want to be helpful in that. And I'm thankful to FDA for taking this leadership role. And honestly, it's your vision and compassion that led me and inspired me to take a look at talc and find how prevalent it is in our environment and how much exposure each and every one of us have on an everyday basis to a carcinogenic substance.

It's really your inspiration that got it going. So thank you again for that. And I'm also very grateful to all the panel members, many who have traveled very far and sat in airports to be here today to help further this discussion and potential recommendations.

It's really the hard work and excellent dedicated work of many of these panel members that revealed that talc is carcinogenic. And this was published, as Dr. McCary said, in the IARC report that yielded the conclusion that talc is probably carcinogenic with a second highest level of certainty. And that conclusion, with the hard work of the scientists on this panel, led to Europe banning talc by the year 2027.

I believe our job in the U.S. is to follow the European suit on this. Talc is an antiquated remnant additive. And it is in, as Dr. McCary said, a huge amount of food and drugs. It is in medications. It is in candy. The most, I think, tangible evidence of this is if you've ever unwrapped a piece of gum and that white powder that keeps it from sticking to the wrapper, that's talc that you're putting in your mouth that we now know is carcinogenic.

So it's clear that it's carcinogenic and inflammatory. And there's very little doubt about this. So it is the hard work of many of the people on this panel that was the foundation for this discussion today.

So my opinion is it's not if talc should be removed from the U.S. market. It's a matter of how and when. It's a dangerous substance.

We have safer, more modern, low-cost alternatives. And I believe that there is a chance to increase the safety of our food and drug supply without disrupting any of the supply chain of these foods and drugs. So I look forward to our discussions today regarding a recommendation to FDA on how and when we remove talc, this dangerous chemical that's in our lives on an everyday basis and impairing the health and well-being of Americans every day.

Thank you.

https://www.realclearpolitics.com/video/2025/05/21/watch_us_food_and_drug_administration_expert_panel_discusses_talc.html