Talc and ovarian cancer: what the most recent evidence shows. Talc 'is linked to ovarian cancer','' the Mail Online reports. That is the finding of a recent study looking at whether talcum powder can increase the risk of ovarian cancer – an association made newsworthy by a high-profile court case in the US. Researchers studied more than 2,000 women with ovarian cancer and a similar-sized control group who were free of disease.