United States: Product Liability & Safety

Since 2008, importers and domestic manufacturers of CPSC-regulated consumer products have been required to maintain a Certificate of Compliance: a Children’s Product Certificate (CPC) for children’s products, or a General Certificate of Conformity (GCC) for regulated general-use products, and produce it on request.

Connecticut has updated its labeling requirements for consumer products containing intentionally added PFAS, now accepting a modified Erlenmeyer flask symbol that differs from New Mexico's recently finalized labeling standard. The divergence in state-level PFAS labeling requirements creates new compliance challenges for manufacturers of apparel, cosmetics, cookware, and other covered consumer products.

A bipartisan group of U.S. Representatives has introduced legislation requiring clear labeling for lab-grown butter products, aiming to distinguish them from traditional dairy butter. The REAL Butter Act would mandate that butter made from carbon dioxide and other non-dairy methods be labeled as "lab-created butter," addressing concerns about consumer transparency and the competitive landscape for dairy farmers.

The food and beverage industry faces a new wave of litigation modeled after Big Tobacco cases, with plaintiffs alleging that ultra-processed foods cause chronic diseases like diabetes and liver disease. A landmark Pennsylvania ruling dismissed the first major case due to insufficient causation evidence, but coordinated lawsuits across multiple jurisdictions and a government action in California signal that this legal battle is just beginning.

The U.S. Supreme Court's 7-2 decision in Monsanto Co. v. Durnell establishes that EPA-approved pesticide labeling under FIFRA preempts state-law failure-to-warn claims requiring additional cancer warnings. This landmark ruling reinforces federal regulatory authority over product labeling and significantly impacts pending litigation nationwide, while raising critical questions about the balance between federal preemption and state tort remedies for manufacturers operating under agency-approved labeling regim

The U.S. Senate Commerce Committee held a confirmation hearing for two Republican nominees to the Consumer Product Safety Commission, marking a critical step toward restoring the agency's quorum after operating with a single commissioner since August 2025. Brien Lorenze and Karen Sessions outlined their priorities for modernizing CPSC enforcement through data-driven approaches while addressing emerging product risks in an increasingly complex marketplace.

This monthly newsletter examines pivotal developments in product liability and mass tort litigation, including the Sixth Circuit's landmark reversal of class certification that rejected formulaic damages models, FDA's dual approach to AI regulation in pharmaceutical manufacturing and clinical trials, and the Supreme Court's expansive interpretation of federal officer removal jurisdiction.

On April 21, 2026, the New York Assembly passed the Food Safety and Chemical Disclosure Act legislation that would establish a first-of-its-kind reporting regime for substances deemed “generally recognized as safe” (GRAS). While state laws have long prohibited the sale of adulterated or misbranded food, they have not required companies to submit GRAS determinations or otherwise disclose the basis for those conclusions at the state level.

The U.S. pet industry is booming—an estimated $143.6 billion market in 2023, with over 152 million American households that own at least one pet.