Healthcare Products

The healthcare products industry has seen tremendous advances in recent decades in healing injury, curing disease, and saving lives.  Clients of The Chanler Group strive to further contribute to this cause by ensuring that healthcare products display Proposition 65 health hazard warnings whenever they contain detectable levels of lead or phthalate chemicals. In recent years, The Chanler Group's clients have investigated and tested a variety of healthcare products, including bandages, adhesive bandages, first aid kits, and healthcare tools for phthalate chemicals and lead. 

Phthalates are "plasticizers," chemicals added to plastic components and materials in consumer products to increase their flexibility, transparency, durability, and longevity.  The Chanler Group regularly investigates the presence of di(2-ethylhexyl)phthalate ("DEHP"), butyl benzyl phthalate ("BBP"), and Di-n-butyl phthalate ("DBP") found in consumer products.  Phthalates are listed by the State of California as chemicals known to cause reproductive harm.

Bandages are of considerable concern to The Chanler Group's clients because children are the dominant users of these products.  Research has shown that children are at greater risk of exposure to high levels of toxic chemicals due to their frequent hand-to-mouth behaviors and small body size.  Therefore, chemicals such as lead and phthalates that are present in products primarily used by children pose the most urgent threat to the consumer.

As a neurotoxin, lead is a highly toxic heavy metal that affects the nervous system in adults as well as children, being especially damaging to children's brains.  Research has shown that repeated exposure to lead cumulatively affects the developing nervous system and, over time, can lead to attention deficit, learning disabilities, short-term memory loss, behavioral problems, and diminished intellectual ability.

The Chanler Group client Peter Englander recently settled a case with Accoutrements LLC, a seller of bandages and other healthcare products, which exemplifies The Chanler Group's positive impact on the healthcare product industry.  As a result of this settlement, Accoutrements LLC agreed to reformulate its plastic adhesive bandages to be "phthalate free." The phthalates alleged to be present in the adhesive bandages included DEHP, BBP, DBP.  Accoutrements also agreed to designate a portion of the monetary injunctive relief in this case as a cy pres award to the Silent Spring Institute, a not-for-profit organization of scientists and activists working in the public interest.  Silent Spring will use these funds to continue its work identifying the links between exposure to environmental chemicals (including DEHP, BBP, DBP, and lead) and reproductive and developmental harm, as well as educating the public about such potential exposures.

To review legal agreements which The Chanler Group's clients have reached with companies that sell healthcare products, please see the cases below.