Urban Outfitters Sells a ‘Toxic’ Journal, Doesn’t Warn Customers, Lawsuit Alleges

In the lawsuit, filed last Wednesday in a California state court, organization Consumer Protection Group, LLC, alleges that by not putting a warning label on its Journal Snap Binder Planner, Urban Outfitters violated California’s Proposition 65.

Proposition 65 is also known as the Safe Drinking Water and Toxic Enforcement Act of 1986, and is in place to make sure warnings are placed on consumer products containing chemicals that can cause cancer or birth defects. 

Each year the California governor reviews the list of chemicals on the list, and sometimes adds chemicals that are newly found to be harmful. 

Consumer Protection Group said, acting in the public interest, it began to identify manufacturers and distributors who are using the chemicals listed in Proposition 65 and not notifying their customers.

In Wednesday’s lawsuit, the organization said Urban Outfitters’ journal contains the carcinogens Di(2-ethylhexyl) phthalate, or DEHP, and Diisononyl phthalate, or DINP, chemicals that could be transferred from the journal to the consumer either through the skin, or via ingestion.

“Persons sustain exposures by handling or otherwise using the Journal with bare skin, without wearing gloves, or by touching bare skin or mucous membranes with the Journal after handling the Journal as well as through direct and indirect hand to mouth contact, hand to food to mouth, direct contact to food then to mouth, hand to mucous membrane, or breathing in particulate matter dispersed from the Journal,” the lawsuit stated. 

The organization claims the retailer has “knowingly and intentionally” exposed consumers to these chemicals since August 2016, added that it advised Urban Outfitters about the alleged violation in 2019, but that it appears no warning label was added.

“Defendants knew or should have known that DEHP and DINP has been identified by the State of California as a toxic chemical known to cause cancer, developmental toxicity, female reproductive toxicity, and male reproductive toxicity and therefore was subject to Proposition 65 warning requirements,” the lawsuit states. 

Consumer Protection Group asked the court to make Urban Outfitters put warning labels on the journal moving forward, and to penalize the company up to $2,500 per day for its alleged violation.

Consumer Protection Group is also seeking lawyers’ costs. 

Meanwhile, Urban Outfitters is not the only large company to be sued under Proposition 65. Amazon, CVS, Walmart, Target, Whole Foods and McDonald’s have also faced lawsuits.

Recently, California’s attorney general sued five seafood companies for allegedly failing to warn buyers that their fish could contain toxic metals such as lead and cadmium. 

Johnson & Johnson also faces a lawsuit under Proposition 65 alleging that it did not warn customers that its talcum powder products expose consumers to carcinogens through adulterations such as lead, arsenic, chromium, and asbestos. 

Did you know you could absorb toxic chemicals from books like journals? Would you expect a retailer to warn you? Let us know in the comments. 

Consumer Protection Group is represented by Jonathan M. Genish and Michael N. Jones of Blackstone Law APC.

The Urban Outfitters Toxic Journal Lawsuit is Consumer Protection Group LLC v. Urban Outfitters Inc., Case No. unavailable, in the Superior Court of the State of California, County of Los Angeles.

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