This incorrectly said that Target will phase out its use of polyvinyl chloride, commonly known as PVC, as a result of a legal settlement with the Center for Environmental Health. The retailer is acting voluntarily after a national campaign led by the Center for Health, Environment and Justice.
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Taking Lead Safety Into Its Own Hands
Michael Green uses an X-ray fluorescence analyzer to check a toy's lead levels. His group recently settled with Target.
(Center For Environmental Health)
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The group has earned the respect of some of its adversaries. "They do try to push the envelop in terms of the claims they bring, but once they bring the claims, they make a reasonable effort in finding resolutions that work," said Robert Falk, a San Francisco attorney who has negotiated with the group on behalf of businesses.
The group, however, has also been called a Proposition 65 "bounty hunter." Under the law, plaintiffs who prevail are entitled to fees. CEH has derived an average of 25 to 30 percent of its $1 million annual revenue from litigation, Margulis said. (The rest comes from individual donations and foundation grants.) The money is spent on product testing and making sure companies are complying with agreements.
The practice of publicly shaming companies constitutes "legal blackmail," said Frederick Locker, general counsel for the Toy Industry Association.
The group doesn't have to use the same testing standards that companies and regulators do, and it is free to stoke consumers' fears that they are at greater risk than they actually are, Locker said.
"We all want to reduce exposure to hazardous substances in consumer products," the lobbyist said. "Consumers expect uniform national standards for determining when there's in fact a real hazard and a risk to consumers and when that risk doesn't exist."
Margulies said the group uses the same independent labs as manufacturers and retailers do.
Its tactics can be harder on regulators, who can't escape a public flogging by signing a settlement.
"If some group tests for lead in a consumer product and creates hysteria and we test in a scientific way and don't find it, it puts us in a difficult position," acting CPSC chairman Nancy Nord said at a public meeting last month. "The group says we're not doing our job. They're right, we're wrong."
The vinyl lunchbox fight is a perfect example. The CPSC tested about 60 lunchboxes. Initially, it found high levels of lead. Then it changed its testing methods to best reflect how children might use lunchboxes and found "extremely low levels of lead."
"Children would have to rub their lunch box and then lick their hands more than 600 times every day, for about 15-30 days, in order for the lunch box to present a health hazard," the agency found.
Green and his group accused the CPSC of rigging its test for political reasons. It said the initials "HS" on an internal agency memo about the test results suggested that former CPSC chairman Hal Stratton had ordered the change. The letters, however, referred to the agency's directorate for health sciences, the CPSC said.
Green is unapologetic about his group's efforts.
"We can't do anything about lead in the environment except educate people about paint and gasoline," he said. "Where we can make a profound impact is on lead in the chain of commerce. That we can stop."
