Excerpted from full article at San Francisco Chronicle:
More than 30 furniture companies, including Ikea, J.C. Penney and Kmart, have agreed to settle for a total of $2.3 million in civil penalties after a Berkeley watchdog group alleged they sold furniture with high amounts of flame retardants in violation of California's Proposition 65.
The Chanler Group, a law firm that represents individuals suing businesses over Prop. 65, claimed that the 35 companies had been selling upholstered chairs, car seats and other foam-padded products in California without disclosing to consumers that they contained flame retardants in amounts that violated the state's consumer-safety law.
"We're very proud of our clients' work," said Cliff Chanler, founder of the Chanler Group, in a statement. "What they've done today is going to go a long way toward industry reform to remove these harmful chemicals from our homes and our bodies."
TCG client Anthony Held served six new 60-Day Notices of Violation of Proposition 65 yesterday. The notices were served to companies offering products such as hand tools, bags and tableware for sale in California containing chemicals known to cause cancer or reproductive harm, without the required health hazard warning. Held alleges that the companies' products contain the phthalate DEHP, the flame retardant TDCPP, and the heavy metal lead (Pb). DEHP and lead are known to cause birth defects and reproductive harm while TDCPP is known to cause cancer. Some of the noticed companies include Crabtree & Evelyn., and Four Seasons General Merchandise.