Expiring Soon: Temporary BPA Warning Regs Under Prop. 65
- With the holidays and end of the year quickly approaching, here is what food and beverage manufacturers and sellers need to know before the temporary Proposition 65 safe harbor warning for Bisphenol A (BPA) exposures expires on December 30, 2017. Read our Law360 article.... ›
Fortune Favors the Quick (to Report): Judge Slaps Spectrum Brands with $1.9 Million Penalty in DOJ/CPSC Tag-Team Enforcement Action
By: Erin M. Bosman and Julie Y. Park
A federal district court in Wisconsin recently hit Spectrum Brands Inc. (Spectrum) with civil penalties of $1.9 million for violations of the Consumer Products Safety Act (CPSA). [1] The court’s 23-page opinion is a strong reminder of how devastating the impact can be for... ›Consumer Product Update – California’s Green Chemistry Initiative Looks for New Products to Regulate
Nail polish, household cleaners, carpets, upholstery, lead acid batteries and other products may be targeted for regulation under California’s Safer Consumer Products Program. The Program, also known as the California Green Chemistry Initiative, is an innovative regulatory scheme to evaluate and seek safer substitutes... ›CPSC Heating Up Before New Commissioner Appointed: Approves a Petition for Rulemaking to Ban an Entire Class of Flame-Retardants
By: Erin M. Bosman and Julie Y. Park
In a split across party lines, the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC or the “Commission”) recently voted on a largely unprecedented course of action: to ban an entire class of chemicals from popular consumer products. Specifically, CPSC adopted a petition for rulemaking that... ›Ninth Circuit Nixes San Francisco Soda Warning
Advertisers and purveyors of sugar-sweetened beverages can rest a little easier now. The Ninth Circuit recently ordered a district court to issue a preliminary injunction to enjoin the 2015 San Francisco Ordinance requiring inclusion of a warning on all advertisements for sugar-sweetened beverages. [1]... ›CPSC Removes Third-Party Testing Requirements for Children’s Products with Certain Plastics
By: Erin M. Bosman, Julie Y. Park and Brittany Scheinok
In a unanimous vote, the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) eliminated third-party testing for compliance with CPSC’s phthalates prohibitions for seven plastics. The Commission decided that these plastics with specified additives do not contain concentrations above 0.1% of the phthalates prohibited in children’s... ›Bristol-Myers Squibb: The Aftermath
By: Erin M. Bosman and Julie Y. Park
Last month, the U.S. Supreme Court clarified the scope of specific personal jurisdiction in Bristol-Myers Squibb Co. v. Superior Court of California, San Francisco Cty., 137 S. Ct. 1773 (2017) (“BMS”). Mass tort defendants have wasted little time in moving to dispose of claims from nonresident plaintiffs... ›Warning: New Proposition 65 Warning Regulations Taking Effect
A year from now, dramatic changes to California’s Proposition 65 warning regulations take full effect. The new regulations (formally published by the State in August 2016) significantly alter the “safe harbor” rules for providing Prop 65 warnings. Companies that have not yet started preparing... ›Shift In CPSC Leadership Means More Changes To Come
By: Erin M. Bosman and Julie Y. Park
At the midpoint of 2017, we look back on the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission’s activity under the new administration, including how recalls and penalties stack up against previous years, new focal points for safety initiatives and enforcement and an interesting development from the... ›FDA’s Denial of Citizen’s Petition “Clear” Enough for Preemption of Failure-to-Warn Claims
By: Erin M. Bosman and Julie Y. Park
The Tenth Circuit recently upheld a Utah district court’s finding that a branded drug manufacturer could not be held liable for failing to warn consumers about alleged birth defect risks when the FDA had previously rejected a citizen’s petition calling for the same warnings.... ›