Environmental Group Files Lawsuit Against Clif Bar Re: Lead in Energy Bars

The Environmental Research Center (ERC) filed a suit against Clif Bar & Company, alleging unwarned exposures to lead in violation of Proposition 65.  ERC alleges that several of Clif Bar’s products contain lead, a chemical known to the State of California to cause reproductive harm, and that California citizens have been exposed without receiving a health hazard warning.

ERC issued 60-Day Notices of Violation of Proposition 65 to Clif Bar on November 23, 2010 and August 5, 2011.  ERC filed the complaint on July 18, 2013 in Superior Court of California, County of San Francisco.  The products named in the lawsuit include several flavors of Clif’s high-protein Builder’s bars, one of Clif’s LUNA bars, and two flavors of Clif’s Shot Bloks energy chews.  ERC seeks injunctive relief, or an order preventing Clif Bar from the continued manufacturing, packaging, distributing, marketing, and/or selling the products in California without first providing clear and reasonable warnings that the products expose consumers to lead.

Clif Bar & Company is based in Berkeley, Calif. and manufactures and sells organic energy and nutrition foods and drinks nationwide.  The company also owns and operates the Clif Family Winery and Farm and the Clif Bar Family Foundation, to promote nature conservation and sustainable agriculture.

The Chanler Group represents citizen enforcers who, acting in the public interest, commence actions against businesses offering products for sale in California that contain chemicals known to cause cancer or reproductive harm without first providing the health hazard warning required by Proposition 65. Citizen enforcers bringing Proposition 65 actions in the public interest may obtain a Court Judgment imposing civil penalties, an injunction requiring reformulation of products, and/or provision of health hazard warnings. The Chanler Group has represented citizen enforcers of Proposition 65 for more than twenty years.