Held v. Best Brands Consumer Products, Inc.

On January 6, 2011, the Alameda County Superior Court entered a Consent Judgment in Held v. Best Brands Consumer Products, Inc., which resolved citizen enforcer Anthony E. Held, Ph.D., P.E.'s allegations that the defendant Best Brands Consumer Products, Inc. ("Best Brands") sold children's backpacks containing the phthalate chemical di(2-ethylhexyl)phthalate ("DEHP") in the State of California without providing the requisite health hazard warnings.

As part of the settlement, Best Brands agreed not to sell any children's backpacks in California after November 8, 2010, unless each accessible component of the backpacks contains less than .1% concentration of DEHP when analyzed using state or federally approved testing methodologies, or the backpacks bear Proposition 65 warnings.

The Consent Judgment requires settlement payments of $25,000, divided therein between civil penalties, 75% of which are paid to California's Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment, and compensation to whistleblower Held and his counsel for their successful enforcement of this matter in the public interest.