Held Settles with Two Sunscreen Companies

Our client Anthony E. Held, Ph.D., P.E. has settled with Shiseido Americas Corporation and Johnson & Johnson Consumer Inc. regarding alleged violations of Proposition 65.  Dr. Held alleged that Shiseido and Johnson & Johnson sold SPF products (such as sunscreen, lip balm, lotions containing sunscreen, etc.) that contained the chemical benzophenone, which is known to the State of California to cause cancer, without the requisite health hazard warning.

In addition to paying civil penalties, Shiseido and Johnson & Johnson have agreed to reformulate their products to virtually eliminate benzophenone.  As an incentive to Shiseido and Johnson & Johnson to accelerate reformulation, Dr. Held has agreed to waive a portion of the civil fine should the companies provide him with certification of such by June 15, 2018.

For more details and to read the settlements, please see the case summaries on our website: Held v. Shiseido Americas Corporation and Held v. Johnson & Johnson Consumer Inc.

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.