Press Release
February 13, 2025. New York, New York
Issued by: David Steinman, Healthy Living Foundation Inc.:
"The Bumble Bee case is of high importance to public health. This company is a repeat violator of the California health law that protects consumers from exposures to dangerous chemical toxins. The current case is about levels of lead and cadmium where levels of lead alone are 56 times over safe harbor levels in one serving of Bumble Bee's Hardwood Smoked Oyster product imported from China.
Bumble Bee was sued before in a similar action begun in 2012, went through similar motion practice as in this case, and settled a claim in a consent judgement in 2014 that imposed their obligation to reformulate their (also sourced in China) four canned oyster products and a clam product, or warn the consumers that the product(s) contain(s) lead and cadmium which are known to the state of California to cause "[cancer and] birth defects or other reproductive harm." Bumble Bee also took an obligation to cease the distribution and sale in California of any of the covered products.
As some large manufacturers of low-value, mass consumer foods employ different tactics, it might be the case that Bumble Bee here altered the packaging and continued selling the shellfish of Chinese origin without an effort to clean up their sourcing and manufacturing practices, which is a subject of further discovery.
China, where Bumble Bee sources the products in question, is notorious for its severe pollution, with numerous studies documenting the massive accumulation of chemical toxins in its coastal waters. Shellfish, being bottom feeders, filter these waters and accumulate pollutants in their bodies, posing an immediate risk to consumers due to very high levels of lead and cadmium.
The public has a right to know what is in the products they consume, which is a core legislative intent behind Proposition 65. This watchdog law provides a self-funding mechanism for private enforcers that results in many manufacturers ceasing their practices of uncontrollably supplying to the market products with egregiously high toxic content—the content that, studies find, correlates with cancer, developmental and reproductive damage—particularly affecting pregnant women, embrious, fetuses, children, and individuals of childbearing age.
However, it is concerning that some manufacturers find it more cost-effective to stigmatise private enforcers and their attorneys rather than invest in safer sourcing practices and actually take care of their consumers.
The judge in this case is very knowledgeable and his willingness to engage with this subject of utmost importance forpublic health is encouraging. Healthy Living Foundation hopes that the demurrers will be denied, allowing the case to proceed and ensuring that consumers are protected from these immediate harmful exposures".
Press Release
September 27, 2021. New York, New York
Case: California Chamber of Commerce v. Rob Bonta, et al
Background
Poulsen Law P.C. represents an official ballot proponent of California Proposition 65 Penny Newman and The Chemical Toxin Working Group Inc. dba Healthy Living Foundation Inc. in Cal. Chamber of Commerce v. Bonta, E.D.Cal., No. 2:19-cv-02019-KJM-JDP.
The case was filed in October 2019. On September 24, 2021, Chief Judge of the District Court for the Eastern District of California Kimberly J. Mueller issued an order recusing herself from Cal. Chamber v. Bonta under 28 U.S.C. § 455(a); denying as moot the Motion to Disqualify her filed by Defendant-Intervenor Council for Education and Research on Toxics (CERT), Mot., ECF No. 152; Objs., ECF No. 154; 24 Objs., ECF No. 158; Reply, ECF No. 167; Suppl. Mem., ECF No. 171, and ordering to seal the Motion to Disqualify with all supporting documents, 16 documents in total.
Three documents in support of Motion to Disqualify, [171], [171-1] and [172], were sealed. However, 13 of 16 such documents were deleted from the docket: [152], [152-1],[152-2], [155], [155-1], [155-2], [156] [157], [158], [167], [167-1], [167-2], [167-3].
Judge Mueller also directed CERT to resubmit the sealed documents, obscuring the addresses (which are public record). CERT expressed their intent to comply with the Order and submit such documents as directed, over its objection to redacting the publicly available information.
CERT also expressed their intent to move the court to (1) restore the deleted docket entries to the public docket so that the docket entries themselves are visible to the public even if the documents associated with them remain under seal; (2) restore sealed documents so that appellate courts and the trial court have access to unredacted documents. See Carijano v. Occidental Petroleum Corp., 2019 U.S.Dist.LEXIS 220774, at *25 (C.D.Cal. June 20, 2019, No. CV 07-5068 PSG (PJWx)) (granting motion to unseal and ordering the clerk to restore the deleted docket entries to the public docket so that the docket entries themselves are visible to the public even if the documents associated with them remain under seal).
Healthy Living Foundation's statement
"This case involves protection of public health from Group 2A IARC carcinogen acrylamide present in many needlessly over-processed snack foods targeted at children, used for school lunches or sold in school vending machines. On March 29, 2021, Judge Mueller has issued a preliminary injunction that prohibited a requirement to warn consumers about presence of this dangerous carcinogen in their food, finding that it violates corporations’ rights against compelled commercial speech, and siding with the Plaintiff who represents the industrial lobby. The Ninth Circuit Court imposed an emergency stay of this injunction, as relates to private enforcement action.
Healthy Living Foundation, a non-profit focused on early life exposures to carcinogens, reproductive and developmental toxins, supports Judge Mueller’s decision to recuse herself in service of the integrity of the American legal system, and believes that the people have the right to know the factual grounds for this recusal brought in CERT's motion to disqualify. HLF trusts that the court will unseal the pleadings and supporting documents, which are largely based on information in free public access, sources like Yelp, California Secretary of State’s website, Judge Mueller’s own press appearances and disclosures, public records, corporate websites, and therefore by definition are devoid of invasion of privacy.
The case should be litigated in court and not in the press; to avoid any confused narration of any participants' actions in the case, and out of respect to the Court and to Chief Judge Mueller, it is important to provide the public with an access to court records in the case of such high public concern. This will allow the public to ascertain the propriety of conduct of all participants, including public health advocates and their respective counsel who donate their work and resources pro-bono to this important cause of public health.
Healthy Living Foundation remains committed to protection of pregnant women, children, and the unborn from dangerously high levels of carcinogens in their foods that are estimated to cause 60% of cancers in the US."