Held v. Product Quest Manufacturing LLC

The parties involved in the case Held v. Product Quest Manufacturing LLC executed a Consent Judgment on March 20, 2015.  In this matter, citizen enforcer Anthony E. Held, Ph.D, P.E. alleged that Product Quest Manufacturing LLC (“Product Quest”) sold sunscreen containing the chemical benzophenone in the State of California without providing the requisite health hazard warnings.  

As part of the agreement, Product Quest agreed not to sell any sunscreen in California after August 31, 2015, unless the sunscreen contains less than 12.5 parts per million (“ppm”) of benzophenone or its raw material, octocrylene, contains less than 200 ppm of benzophenone when analyzed using state or federally approved testing methodologies.

The Consent Judgment required settlement payments of $123,450, 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.