Three Class Actions Claim Companies Failed To Disclose Benzene Contamination In Personal Care Products

Benzene Contamination Class Action Lawsuit Overview: 

• Who: More plaintiffs have filed class action lawsuits over benzene contamination against HRB Brands, LLC, Edgewell Personal Care Company, and The Village Company, LLC. 
• Why: Plaintiffs claim the companies  failed to disclose that their products were contaminated with benzene, a known human carcinogen.
• Where: The class action lawsuits were filed in New York, Connecticut and California federal courts.

Three separate class action lawsuits have been filed against companies over the presence of the chemical benzene, a known human carcinogen, in products including antiperspirant spray, body spray and sunscreen. 

Plaintiffs Mary Molina and Carlo Garcia claim Sure Unscented Aerosol antiperspirant spray and Brut Classic 24-Hour Protection aerosol antiperspirant are defective due to the presence of benzene. 

Molina and Garcia argue HRB Brands, LLC, which manufactures, distributes and sells the Sure and Brut brand antiperspirant sprays, “took advantage” of the public’s trust by representing the products as safe when they were in fact contaminated with benzene. 

“The Products’ benzene contamination was not disclosed to the consumer on the product label, the ingredients list or otherwise,” the lawsuit states. 

Molina and Garcia want to represent a nationwide Class and California subclass of consumers who purchased the affected products for personal use.

Plaintiffs Lisa Zayas, Catalina Ocampo, Deborah Jean and Sebe Algofi, meanwhile, claim Edgewell Personal Care Company sold Banana Boat brand sunscreen contaminated with benzene. 

Zayas, Ocampo, Jean and Algofi claim the Banana Boat sunscreen was falsely advertised as “safe and effective and not adulterated with benzene” when, in reality, several of the products were shown to be contaminated with the known carcinogen through independent testing. 

Independent Pharmacy Notified FDA of The Contaminated Personal Care Products 

Valisure, an independent analytical pharmacy that conducted the study, found benzene contamination in a number of healthcare, cosmetic and sunscreen products and filed a citizen’s petition in May asking the Food and Drug Administration to recall a number of products from shelves. 

Plaintiffs claim that, despite this, Edgewell continues to claim the product is safe while concealing its risks.

“Because Plaintiffs purchased worthless products, they have suffered an economic loss so that the makers of Banana Boat sunscreen products could reap ill-gotten profits,” the class action lawsuit states . 

Zayas, Ocampo, Jean and Algofi want to represent a nationwide class along with a Pennsylvania, Illinois, Oregon and New York subclasses of consumers who purchased the affected Banana Boat products. 

Soft & Dri Latest Product Hit With Class Action For Benzene Contamination

In New York federal court, meanwhile, plaintiff Maria Ventura claims The Village Company, LLC sells Soft & Dri Classic, Signature Soft Scent body spray contaminated with benzene. 

Ventura claims the Village Company fails to disclose that its body spray contains a harmful toxin such as benzene even though it “does specifically list both the active and inactive ingredients of the Product.” 

“Defendant’s advertising and marketing campaign is false, deceptive and misleading because the Product contains benzene, which Defendant does not list or mention anywhere on the Product’s packaging or labeling,” the class action lawsuit states. 

Ventura wants to represent a nationwide class and New York subclass of consumers who purchased the Soft & Dri brand body spray product. 

The class action lawsuits join a growing list of consumer complaints targeting companies in the wake of Valisure’s study, including against Procter & Gamble, Prestige Consumer Healthcare and Suave, among others. 

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The plaintiffs are represented by Jason P. Sultzer, Joseph Lipari and Daniel Markowitz of The Sultzer Law Group P.C.; David C. Magagna Jr. and Charles E. Schaffer of Levin Sedran & Berman; Joseph P. Guglielmo of Scott+Scott Attorneys at Law LLP; Brandon M. Wise of Peiffer Wolf Carr Kane & Conway, LLP; Jonathan Shub and Kevin Laukaitis of the Shub Law Firm LLC; Gary M. Klinger, Gary E. Mason and David K. Lietz of Mason Lietz & Klinger LLP; Tiffany M. Yiatras of Consumer Protection Legal, LLC; Jonathan M. Jagher of Freed Kanner London & Millen LLC; William E. Hoese of Kohn, Swift & Graf, P.C.; Katrina Carroll of Lynch Carpenter LLP; and Alex R. Straus, Nick Suciu, III and Russell Busch of Milberg Coleman Bryson Phillips Grossman, PLLC. 

The Benzene Contamination Class Action Lawsuits are Ventura v. The Village Company, LLC, Case No. 1:21-cv-10226, in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York; Zayas, et al. v. Edgewell Personal Care Company, et al., Case No. 3:21-cv-01596, in the U.S. District Court for the District of Connecticut; and Molina, et al. v. HRB Brands, LLC, et al., Case No. 1:21-at-01078, in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of California.

Read About More Class Action Lawsuits & Class Action Settlements:

• Multiple Hand Sanitizer Brands Contaminated With Benzene, Warns Lab
• Procter & Gamble Sold Old Spice, Secret Antiperspirant Sprays Containing Benzene, New Class Action Claims
• Costco, Johnson & Johnson Reach Class Action Settlement Over Carcinogenic Sunscreen Accusations
• Benzene Contamination Found in Sunscreen, Antifungal, Antiperspirant Spray Products