Held v. U.S. Toy Company, Inc., et al.

On October 27, 2008, citizen enforcer Anthony E. Held, Ph.D., P.E. and settling defendant U.S. Toy Company, Inc. d/b/a Constructive Playthings (“U.S. Toy”) entered into an out-of-court Settlement Agreement, which resolved Held’s allegations that U.S. Toy sold inflatable vinyl toys/children’s items including inflatable or rubbery ducks containing the phthalate chemical di(2-ethylhexyl)phthalate (“DEHP”) in the State of California without the requisite health hazard warnings. 

As part of the settlement, U.S. Toy agreed not to sell any inflatable vinyl toys/children’s items in California after October 27, 2008, unless the vinyl toys/children’s items have Proposition 65 warnings provided or contain no more than 1,000 parts per million of DEHP, butyl benzyl phthalate (“BBP”) and di-n-butyl phthalate (“DBP”) when analyzed using state or federally approved testing methodologies. 

The Settlement Agreement requires settlement payments of $41,000, 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.