We've probably all had some put on our bodies at some point to prevent rubbing and chaffing - most likely when we were babies.
Now, the medical, pharmaceutical and consumer giants, Johnson and Johnson, has been ordered to pay $417m (£324m) after a link between its talcum powder product and ovarian cancer was discovered.
The fine is the largest sum awarded in a series of verdicts against the company in the US.
The case was brought forward by Eva Echeverria from Los Angeles, who alleged that Johnson and Johnson failed to adequately warn consumers about talcum powder's potential cancer risks.
Credit: PA
Echeverria says her 60-year use of the product led to her developing ovarian cancer which was diagnosed in 2007.
The cancer developed as a 'proximate result of the unreasonably dangerous and defective nature of talcum powder' - as stated in her lawsuit.
She now hopes that the company will put additional warnings on its products.
Her attorney, Mark Robinson, said: "Mrs Echeverria is dying from this ovarian cancer and she said to me all she wanted to do was to help other women throughout the whole country who have ovarian cancer for using Johnson and Johnson for 20 and 30 years.
"She really didn't want sympathy. She just wanted to get a message out to help these other women."
The jury's award included $68m (£53m) in compensatory damages and $340m (£265m) in punitive damages after seeing internal documents that, according to Robinson, 'showed the jury that Johnson and Johnson knew about the risks of talc and ovarian cancer'.
Credit: PA
He added: "Johnson and Johnson had many warning bells over a 30-year period but failed to warn the women who were buying its product."
A spokeswoman for the company, Carol Goodrich, said that Johnson and Johnson would appeal the decision but does sympathise with the woman suffering from ovarian cancer as a result of Johnson's baby powder.
This case is the fifth in a line of cases against the company. A Missouri jury awarded $110m (£86m) to a woman in 2012, while three trials in St Louis last year saw awards of $72m (£56m), $70.1m (£54m) and $55m (£43m).
Johnson and Johnson HQ. Credit: Google Maps
However, Paul Burrows, a UK-based solicitor in medical negligence, told LADbible that these sorts of figures would never be awarded in English and Welsh law.
He said: "The American legal system is very different to that in England and Wales.
"They have punitive damages - which basically means damages are given to punish the tortfeasor (the person accused of wrongdoing).
"Also, juries decide the amount, rather than the judge that does it in the United Kingdom - which would help understand the astronomical sums.
"Nobody would get anything like that in the UK."
Featured Image Credit: Johnson's