Held v. The Kroger Co.

The parties involved in the case Held v. The Kroger Co. executed a Consent Judgment on April 12, 2016.  In this matter, citizen enforcer Anthony E. Held, Ph.D., P.E. alleged that The Kroger Co. (“Kroger”) sold vinyl/PVC gloves containing the phthalate chemical diisononyl phthalate (“DINP”) in the State of California without providing the requisite health hazard warnings.  

As part of the agreement, Kroger agreed not to sell any vinyl/PVC gloves in California after August 1, 2016 enters the Judgment, unless the gloves contain no more than 1,000 parts per million of DINP when analyzed using state or federally approved testing methodologies.

The Consent Judgment required settlement payments of $25,000, 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.