Many universities and local governments have installed synthetic turf made with “crumb rubber” – ground up tires – on playing fields and playgrounds in recent years to obtain the advantages of all-season use and lower maintenance costs. In recent months, however, the media and a growing group of critics contend that the crumb rubber used
Microbead Bans Expanding
The number of states who have banned the use of microbeads in personal care products is growing, with California being the most recent to join the trend. California and New Jersey laws expand their bans to include biodegradable microbeads; Johnson & Johnson and Proctor & Gamble both opposed the California law. The Personal Care Products
OSHA Revises Exemption for “Retail Facilities” from Its Process Safety Management Standard
In a memo dated July 22, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) announced that it was revising its interpretation of the “retail facilities” exemption from its Process Safety Management (PSM) standard, as codified at 29 C.F.R. § 1910.119(a)(2)(1). The PSM standard requires employers to manage hazards associated with processes involving highly hazardous chemicals.
Green Guides Hit Red Light: FTC Judge Says “Biodegradable” Doesn’t Mean Gone in One Year
In the FTC’s administrative proceeding against ECM Biofilms, Inc., Administrative Law Judge Chappell rejected the FTC’s assertion, taken directly from the Green Guides, that marketing a product as “biodegradable” includes an implied claim that the product “will completely decompose into elements found in nature within one year after customary disposal.” ALJ Chappell ruled that the
Those Doggone Environmental Claims
The FTC continues its active presence in the environmental claims space with 20 warning letters targeting marketers of “dog waste bags” who make biodegradability and/or compostability claims for the bags and their, er, contents. The sweep contains no surprises in terms of FTC interpretation of environmental claims and is consistent with past FTC actions against
Use Foam? You may be subject to a new proposed EPA rule
EPA has proposed a new rule to restrict the use of seven toluene diisocyanates (TDIs) in consumer products. TDIs are commonly used in the production of polyurethanes found in foams, coatings, elastomers, adhesives and sealants used in consumer products. Flexible foams (for cushioning) and rigid foams (for insulation) are the chief uses for TDI.
To Label Or Not To Label? Companies May Have No Choice
Most everyone knows that the First Amendment restricts the government’s ability to limit commercial speech. Similarly, most everyone would probably think the First Amendment also restricts the government’s ability to compel commercial speech. But are there times when the government may compel commercial speech? Indeed it can in some circumstances, and the D.C. Circuit recently expanded those circumstances in American Meat Institute v. U.S. Department of Agriculture (AMI). AMI involved a trade association’s challenge to regulations requiring meat producers to include country-of-origin labels on their products. This decision is important to almost any company that is, or could be, subject to a regulatory mandate to disclose what the court calls “purely factual and uncontroversial information.”
Rehearing en banc a case decided in the government’s favor by a three-judge panel, the D.C. Circuit in AMI upheld the regulations, applying the test from the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision in Zauderer v. Office of Disciplinary Counsel. Zauderer upheld, against a First Amendment challenge, a state’s disciplinary action against an attorney whose advertisements had the potential to deceive consumers by failing to comply with state regulations mandating certain cost disclosures to prospective clients. Although the regulations concerning meat origins in AMI had nothing to do with countering consumer deception, the D.C. Circuit nonetheless applied Zauderer and thus extended its application beyond protection against consumer deception to the advancement of consumer edification.
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Stricter Rules for Fuel Economy Advertising Are on the Horizon, But Are Unlikely to Put the Brakes on Consumer Class Actions
The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) and U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) are both considering tightening rules governing the advertising of vehicle fuel economy. New federal regulations, however, may not stem the recent tide of consumer class actions alleging that auto manufacturers have misled consumers with inaccurate miles-per-gallon (MPG) claims.
Since 1975, the FTC has published its Fuel Economy Guide, which advises auto manufacturers and dealers to prominently disclose their vehicles’ estimated city and highway MPG whenever they make fuel economy claims 1 . These MPG estimates must be based on EPA-mandated testing procedures. 2 FTC began soliciting comments on revisions to its Fuel Economy Guide in 2009. In May 2014, FTC issued its most specific questions to date, inviting the public to comment on the following issues:
Report on Phthalates Recommends Permanent Ban on DINP, Additional Permanent Bans on DIBP, DPENP, DHEXP, DCHP, and an Interim Ban on DIOP
The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) has released the risk assessment on phthalates conducted for the CPSC by a congressionally mandated Chronic Hazard Advisory Panel (CHAP). In the Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act, Congress charged the CHAP with making recommendations on whether the use of additional phthalates or phthalate alternatives in children’s toys and child care articles should be restricted as banned hazardous substances. The CHAP made the following specific recommendations in its assessment of the risks of 14 phthalates and six phthalate alternatives:
- The interim ban on the use of diisononyl phthalate (DINP) in children’s toys and child care articles at levels greater than 0.1% be made permanent because DINP “induces antiandrogenic effects in animals, although with lesser potency than other active phthalates, and therefore can contribute to the cumulative risk from other antiandrogenic phthalates.”
- The current interim bans on di-n-octylphthalate (DNOP) and diisodecyl phthalate (DIDP) be lifted because they do not appear to possess antiandrogenic potential but that U.S. agencies responsible for dealing with DNOP and DIDP exposures from food and child care products conduct the necessary risk assessments with a view to supporting risk management steps given other toxicological endpoints of concern.
The Questionable Benefits of California’s Prop 65 Reform
Many experts agree the California public has become immune to the warnings on goods and premises required by Proposition 65, the Safe Drinking Water and Toxic Enforcement Act of 1986. Instead of educating the public, the more notable outcome is a burgeoning cottage industry of plaintiff attorneys bringing frivolous “bounty hunter” enforcement lawsuits against businesses for minor or illusory violations of the statute. As a forthcoming report from the California Attorney General shows, 73 percent of all private settlement payments—totaling $12.7 million—went toward private enforcers’ attorney’s fees and costs in Prop 65 lawsuits settled in 2013. This trend prompted Gov. Brown to declare in May 2013 that Proposition 65 reform was necessary to end these “frivolous shakedown lawsuits.”
In response, California’s Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment issued proposed amendments to the regulation on March 7, 2014. Under these notional reforms, businesses operating or selling products in California would need to substantially change their warnings if their products or premises contain certain chemicals listed as “known” carcinogens or reproductive toxicants. OEHHA has claimed — with little support — that these changes will provide “more clarity to the Proposition 65 warning requirements and more specificity regarding the minimum elements for providing a ‘clear and reasonable’ warning for exposures that occur from a consumer product, including foods and exposures that occur in occupational or environmental settings.”
The opposite is likely to occur.
Continue Reading The Questionable Benefits of California’s Prop 65 Reform