Held v. GSI Outdoors, Inc.

The parties involved in the case Held v. GSI Outdoors, Inc. executed a Consent Judgment on March 18, 2014.  In this matter, citizen enforcer Anthony Held, Ph.D., P.E., alleged that GSI Outdoors, Inc. (“GSI”) sold camping cookware with vinyl and/or PVC coated handles containing the phthalate chemical di(2-ethylhexyl)phthalate and flasks with leather wrapping containing the heavy metal lead in the State of California without providing the requisite health hazard warnings. 

As part of the agreement, GSI agreed not to sell any camping cookware or flasks with leather wrapping in California after March 1, 2014, unless the products contain no more than 1,000 parts per million of DEHP and no more than 100 parts per million of lead when analyzed using state or federally approved testing methodologies or have Proposition 65 warnings provided.  Should GSI provide written certification that all products qualify as reformulated by July 15, 2014, and continuing into the future, Held agreed to waive a portion of the civil fine that would otherwise be applied.

The Consent Judgment required settlement payments of $36,000, 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.