Oakland, CA -- Children's lunchbox manufacturer InGEAR, the country's third-leading producer of lunchboxes and coolers, has reached an agreement with the Center for Environmental Health to eliminate lead risks to children from their products in time for this summer's back-to-school shopping season. The settlement with InGEAR was signed today in San Francisco Superior Court by Judge Ronald Quidachay.

InGEAR, the first company to settle the lawsuits CEH initiated last year against children's lunchbox makers and retailers, has agreed to set a strict standard for reducing lead in all of its vinyl lunchboxes and coolers. The company also agreed to eliminate its use of polyvinyl chloride (PVC, or "vinyl") plastic in the interior of lunchboxes, as PVC often contains high lead levels.

"We applaud InGEAR for taking this swift action to protect children's health," said Michael Green, Executive Director of CEH. "Parents shouldn't have to worry that lead might be lurking in their children's lunch. We urge other manufacturers and retailers to meet the same safety standards quickly, so all children's lunchboxes can be free of lead risks by this summer's shopping season." 

Buffalo Grove, Illinois-based InGEAR has agreed to reduce lead levels in its products to below 200 parts per million (ppm) within 90 days of the settlement. In lab testing, one InGEAR product previously tested at over 5,700 ppm of lead. In its ongoing investigation, lab tests commissioned by CEH have found thirty lunchboxes and coolers made by other manufacturers that contain two to ninety times the federal standard of 600 ppm for lead in paint on toys. Lead is a potent neurotoxin that can cause reduced IQ and behavioral problems in children even with low levels of exposure.

In addition to the 200 ppm lead threshold, InGEAR has agreed to eliminate the use of PVC entirely in the interior of its lunchboxes within nine months. PVC is considered the dirtiest of all plastics because it is often made with lead and other harmful additives and can release cancer-causing chemicals when it is produced and incinerated. "One simple way that lunchbox manufacturers can eliminate lead is to stop using vinyl and switch to safer materials that are currently available," said Green. In addition to other lunchbox manufacturers Igloo, Fast Forward LLC, and Accessory Network Group, CEH has sued retailers including Toys R Us, Walgreens, Ross Stores and others for selling lead-tainted lunchboxes.

Following the CEH lawsuits, the Attorney General of New York last fall announced statewide recalls of lead-tainted lunchboxes made by Fast Forward. The Washington State Department of Ecology and the Connecticut Attorney General have also issued warnings that they will take action to pull lead-lunchboxes from stores in their states.

Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan is currently negotiating with a number of lunchbox manufacturers after lead in excess of limits set in Illinois' Environmental Protection Act was identified in lunchboxes sold in Illinois; a number of Illinois retailers have pulled suspect lunchboxes off store shelves at Madigan's request.

With their lunchbox action, InGEAR joins a growing list of businesses, including Microsoft, Crabtree & Evelyn, and Johnson & Johnson that are reducing or eliminating the use of PVC. For more information on companies phasing out PVC, see http://www.besafenet.com/pvc/mspvcrel120105.htm

InGEAR, which sells more than a quarter million lunchboxes and coolers annually, is the third largest manufacturer in the industry and supplies major retailers including Kmart, WalMart, Sears and JC Penney. CEH first sued lunchbox makers and retailers in August 2005 under California's Safe Drinking Water and Toxics Enforcement Act, known as "Proposition 65".

More information about CEH's investigation can be found at www.cehca.org/lunchboxes.htm

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