Held v. CVS Pharmacy, Incorporated, et al.

On September 1, 2011, the Marin County Superior Court entered a Consent Judgment in Held v. CVS Pharmacy, Incorporated; et al., which resolved citizen enforcer Anthony E. Held, Ph.D., P.E.'s allegations that the defendant CVS Pharmacy, Incorporated ("CVS"), sold children's bags, plush toys with vinyl components, and children's vinyl baseball/sporting toys containing the phthalate chemical di(2-ethylhexyl)phthalate ("DEHP") in the State of California without providing the requisite health warnings.

As part of the settlement, CVS agreed not to sell any children's bags, plush toys, or baseball toys in California after April 1, 2011, unless each accessible component of the children's bags, plush toys, or baseball toys contains less than 1,000 parts per million of DEHP when analyzed using state or federally approved testing methodologies.

The Consent Judgment requires settlement payments of $36,500, divided therein between civil penalties, 75% of which are paid to California's Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment, and compensation to whistleblower Held and his counsel for their successful enforcement of this matter in the public interest.