Baby bottle maker says microplastics inescapable, health risks unproven, in bid to toss lawsuit
Adds comment from attorneys for the consumers in paragraph 4 and 5 and comment from Philips in paragraph 6, fixes style in case info at end
By Diana Novak Jones
Sept 9 (Reuters) -Handi-Craft Co on Friday pushed back against claims that the company failed to warn parents that their plastic baby bottles leach microplastics when heated, arguing in part that microplastics are ubiquitous and their health effects are unproven.
Handi-Craft and another baby bottle maker, Philips North America, are each facing proposed class actions claiming they failed to warn parents that the polypropylene bottles and cups sold under the brands Philips Avent and Handi-Craft’s Dr. Brown's, when heated as part of regular use, could expose infants to tiny flecks of plastic that can interfere with their digestive, reproductive and immune systems. Both companies have moved to dismiss the claims against them.
In its motion to dismiss, Handi-Craft argued that the consumers suing hadn’t dealt with “the intractable problem of assigning liability when microplastics are so ubiquitous and ‘inescapable’ that humans constantly ingest and inhale them from countless sources.”
In a statement, attorneys representing the consumers said Handi-Craft's argument ignored parents' desire for harm reduction.
"Caregivers might reasonably make a different choice than using a product that results in babies unnecessarily swallowing microplastics," the attorneys said in the statement.
A spokesperson from PhilipsNorth America said in a statement that the company disagrees with the allegations. The statement said that Philips Avent plastic bottles are safe to use and are compliant with all applicable safety requirements globally.
Handi-Craft did not respond to requests for comment.
The consumers, who are California residents, filed the parallel lawsuits against Philips and Handi-Craft in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California in June. The plaintiffs, who hope to represent both classes covering California purchasers and nationwide purchasers of the products, are seeking damages and an injunction barring the sale of the products and marketing that implies they are safe.
In its motion to dismiss, filed on Sept. 3, Philips argued that the plaintiffs had failed to quantify how many microplastics the bottles supposedly leach or whether that amount could be dangerous.
Handi-Craft is also asking the judge overseeing its case to strike some of the claims for the nationwide class, arguing in part that state laws governing consumer products are too different for them to proceed as a nationwide class.
The cases are Miller v. Philips North America LLC and Cortez v. Handi-Craft Co Inc, U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California, Nos. 3:24-cv-03781 and 4:24-cv-03782.
For the plaintiffs: Ryan Clarkson, Bahar Sodaify, Kelsey Elling and Alan Gudino of the Clarkson Law Firm
For Philips: Cortlin Lannin, Megan Rodgers and Raymond Lu of Covington & Burling
For Handi-Craft: IJay Palansky, Stephen Siegel, Yvette Mishev, Elizabeth Wolicki and Jack Butz of Armstrong Teasdale; and Dana Finberg of O’Hagan Meyer
Reporting by Diana Jones
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