Held v. Kiss Nail Products, Inc., et al.

The defendants Kiss Nail Products, Inc. and Kiss Products, Inc. (collectively “Kiss”) and citizen enforcer Anthony E. Held, Ph.D., P.E., executed a Consent Judgment on January 23, 2013, which resolved Held's allegations that Kiss sold cosmetic cases/bags 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, Kiss agreed not to sell any cosmetic cases/bags in California one year after January 28, 2013, unless the cosmetic cases/bags contain no more than 20,000 parts per million (2%) of DEHP in any accessible component that may be touched or handled during reasonably foreseeable use when analyzed using state or federally approved testing methodologies.  Due to Kiss’s commitment to comply by these heightened standards, Held agreed to credit a portion of the civil fine.  Should Kiss provide written certification that within two years of January 28, 2013 all cosmetic cases/bags have been reformulated to contain no more than .1% DEHP, Held agreed to waive an additional portion of the fine. 

The Consent Judgment requires settlement payments of $101,000, 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.