Held v. Toy Investments, Inc. dba Toy Smith

On February 18, 2009, citizen enforcer Anthony E. Held, Ph.D., P.E., and settling defendant Toy Investments dba Toy Smith ("Toy Investments") entered into an out-of-court Settlement Agreement, which resolved Held's allegations that Toy Investments sold vinyl bathroom toys/children's items and soft vinyl baseball/sporting toys 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, Toy Investments agreed not to sell any vinyl/bathroom toys/children's items or soft vinyl baseball/sporting toys in California after February 15, 2009, unless the toys contain no more than 1,000 parts per million of DEHP when analyzed using state or federally approved testing methodologies or have Proposition 65 health hazard warnings affixed to them. All of the vinyl bathroom toys/children's items and soft vinyl baseball/sporting toys sold by Toy Investments in California after April 30, 2009, shall qualify as reformulated.

The Settlement Agreement requires settlement payments of $28,282, 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.