Recently benzene was found in a number of aerosol personal care products, including sun care products, deodorants, and antiperspirants. In October 2022, Valisure, a company that tests consumer products, tested a number of dry shampoos for benzene as well. The complaint for this class action brings suit against DeMert Brands, LLC, alleging benzene was found in its Not Your Mother’s brand dry shampoo products.
A class and two subclasses have been defined for this action:
- The class is all persons in the US who bought the products, for personal or household use, within any applicable limitations period.
- The Illinois Subclass is all those in the above class who bought the products in Illinois.
- The Consumer Fraud Multi-State Subclass is all those in the above class who bought the products in California, Florida, Illinois, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, New Jersey, New York, or Washington.
Benzene, a petrochemical, has long been known to be harmful to health, the complaint alleges, quoting a 1939 study saying that “exposure over a long period of time to any concentration of benzene greater than zero is not safe.” The World Health Organization considers it a carcinogen in human beings, the complaint alleges, as does the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC), which associates it with various types of leukemia.
The complaint quotes the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) as saying that humans can be exposed to benzene through “inhalation, skin absorption, ingestion, skin and/or eye contact.”
Nowhere on the labels listing the active or inactive ingredients of the dry shampoo products is there any warning that the products contain benzene, the complaint alleges, even though the product is sprayed directly on the body and can be inhaled during application.
Valisure’s mission, as quoted by the complaint, is “to independently check the chemical composition of medications and healthcare products before they reach consumers.” In October 2022, it undertook to test a number of dry shampoos, and pages 5-7 of the complaint shows the results for the Not Your Mother’s products. According to the table, they contain anywhere from 4.46 parts per million (ppm) to 158ppm.
How much benzene are products permitted to contain? The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) says that if benzene is “unavoidable in order to produce a drug product with a significant therapeutic advance,” it may contain up to 2ppm of benzene.
The benzene levels found in the Not Your Mother’s products are significantly higher than this, the complaint claims. It also quotes Valisure as saying that “the dry shampoos tested are not drugs and contain no active pharmaceutical ingredient for therapeutic purpose; therefore, any significant detection of benzene could be deemed unacceptable.”
Article Type: LawsuitTopic: Consumer
Most Recent Case Event
Not Your Mother’s Dry Shampoo Products Benzene Content Complaint
November 10, 2022
Recently benzene was found in a number of aerosol personal care products, including sun care products, deodorants, and antiperspirants. In October 2022, Valisure, a company that tests consumer products, tested a number of dry shampoos for benzene as well. The complaint for this class action brings suit against DeMert Brands, LLC, alleging benzene was found in its Not Your Mother’s brand dry shampoo products.
Not Your Mother’s Dry Shampoo Products Benzene Content ComplaintCase Event History
Not Your Mother’s Dry Shampoo Products Benzene Content Complaint
November 10, 2022
Recently benzene was found in a number of aerosol personal care products, including sun care products, deodorants, and antiperspirants. In October 2022, Valisure, a company that tests consumer products, tested a number of dry shampoos for benzene as well. The complaint for this class action brings suit against DeMert Brands, LLC, alleging benzene was found in its Not Your Mother’s brand dry shampoo products.
Not Your Mother’s Dry Shampoo Products Benzene Content Complaint