Held v. PhotoMedex, Inc.

On February 16, 2017, citizen enforcer Anthony E. Held, Ph.D., P.E. and settling party PhotoMedex, Inc. (“PhotoMedex”) entered into an out-of-court settlement agreement.  Held had alleged that PhotoMedex sold sunscreen containing the chemical benzophenone in the State of California without providing the requisite health hazard warnings.

As part of the settlement, PhotoMedex agreed not to sell any sunscreen in California after February 24, 2017, unless the sunscreen contains less than 35 parts per million of benzophenone when analyzed using state or federally approved testing methodologies.

The Settlement Agreement requires 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 citizen enforcer Held and his counsel for their successful enforcement of this matter in the public interest.