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Innovation is a word that carries real weight in product safety. Is there an emerging “duty to innovate” — a duty to proactively adopt feasible, safer technologies — or is innovation simply a good practice that may also reduce risk? That is exactly what a panel of industry and legal professionals tackled at this year’s ICPHSO Annual Meeting & Training Symposium, with the goal of surfacing a practical toolkit for product safety professionals on when to push innovation, how to document feasibility and tradeoffs, and how to navigate regulatory momentum without stalling products that should go to market.

The panel brought together four voices with rare depth across law, engineering, and corporate governance: Kyran Hoff of GE Appliances, Meghan McMeel of Crowell & Moring, John McNulty of Google LLC, and moderator George Wray of Borden Ladner Gervais LLP.

Here are the four key themes that shaped the conversation.

Continue Reading Is There a Duty to Innovate? Key Takeaways From ICPHSO’s Most Timely Panel

For the first time since the summer of 2019, the U.S. Congress is holding an oversight hearing for the United States Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC). On July 23, 2024 at 2:00 PM ET, the U.S. House of Representatives Energy and Commerce Innovation, Data, and Commerce Subcommittee is holding an oversight hearing titled “The Fiscal…

As we close out the last week of March, the FTC updates include highlights from key findings from the International Competition Network on building tech capacity in law enforcement, banning the use of algorithms for price-fixing in the hotel industry, protecting child privacy data from software companies, and seeking information on the contracting practices of large health care organizations and drug wholesalers.  All this, and more, after the jump.

Continue Reading FTC Updates (March 18 – 29, 2024)
Recall

In vitro fertilization (IVF) is one of the most common types of fertility treatment, but the process is also extremely sensitive, invasive, and expensive. All of these factors come into play in a series of recent lawsuits following CooperSurgical’s December 5, 2023 recall of three lots of its embryo culture media—a substance that allows for the development of fertilized embryos. According to the company’s announcement, CooperSurgical had received a high number of customer complaints indicating that its embryo culture media caused impaired embryo development.

Continue Reading Recall Litigation Report: CooperSurgical Faces Multiple Lawsuits Following Recall of IVF Embryo Culture Media
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Since the Federal Trade Commission (“FTC”) published its updated 2023 Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising earlier this year, consumer reviews have been front of mind. This guidance covers, in part, the treatment of consumer reviews, and companies have been (or should be) preparing for an uptick in FTC enforcement. But it’s not just the FTC to watch out for. A recent wave of class actions arising under California Civil Code § 1670.8 related to a customer’s right to make statements about their experience with a seller has raised the bar for retailers to another level.

Continue Reading I Can’t Say What? New Wave of Class Actions Target Consumer Review Terms & Conditions
Recall

What a company knew and when is a critical question in any lawsuit involving recalled products. And the answer may be complicated, particularly when a manufacturer announces multiple recalls and expands previous recalls.

Continue Reading Recall Litigation Report: Mid-America Pet Food Faces Putative Class Action Over Recalled Pet Food Products
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Just over a month after the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) announced its intent to delay enforcement of facility registration and product listing under the Modernization of Cosmetics Regulation Act of 2022 (MoCRA), the Government Accountability Office (GAO) issued a report, “COSMETIC SAFETY: Better Planning Would Enhance FDA Efforts to Implement New Law,” with seven recommendations to strengthen FDA efforts to implement its new cosmetic oversight responsibilities.

Continue Reading GAO Report Concludes that the FDA Needs to Strengthen its Efforts to Implement MoCRA

Bayer Healthcare LLC (Bayer) is the latest in a long line of companies to be hit with a consumer class action lawsuit over recalled personal care products containing benzene—a carcinogen found in a variety of consumer products, including most notoriously, aerosol deodorant, sunscreen, and dry shampoo.

Continue Reading Recall Litigation Report: Benzene Continues To Be A Hot Button Issue