Held v. Bradshaw International, Inc.

Whistleblower Anthony Held, Ph.D., P.E. and settling party Bradshaw International, Inc. (“Bradshaw”) entered into an out-of-court Settlement Agreement on July 11, 2014, which resolved Held’s allegations that Bradshaw sold vinyl/PVC gloves 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, Bradshaw agreed not to sell any gloves in California after July 15, 2014, unless the gloves contain no more than 1,000 parts per million of DEHP in any accessible component when analyzed using state or federally approved testing methodologies.  As Bradshaw provided written certification that it has already complied with the reformulation standard for all California products, Held agreed to waive a portion of the civil fine that would otherwise be applied. 

The Settlement Agreement requires settlement payments of $72,000, divided therein between civil penalties, 75% of which are paid to California’s Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment, the waived penalty, and compensation to citizen enforcer Held and his counsel for their successful enforcement of this matter in the public interest.