NEW YORK (Legal Newsline) - Fighting one of a growing number of class action lawsuits over the alleged presence of chemicals known as PFAS in consumer products, Procter & Gamble says it is undeniable that flossing is healthy.
The company filed a motion to dismiss Alan Dalewitz's lawsuit Dec. 22 in New York federal court, stating the same claims concerning its Glide floss have already been tossed by another court.
The issue is whether P&G's "Pro-Health" claim misleads customers. The company says it is either true or puffery that would not confuse any reasonable consumer, and that the complaint fails to allege anyone was injured by the floss.
The suit cites a 2019 ruling that found the mere presence of fluorine is insufficient to prove the floss contains any PFAS compounds.
"Plaintiff's complaint suffers from all of the same material defects," the motion to dismiss Dalewitz's case says. "It alleges only testing of Glide for organic fluorine, rather than FPAS, and relies on material that openly concedes that positive results for such tests only trigger a need for additional and more thorough testing.
"Indeed, Plaintiff does not - and cannot - allege that the mere presence of fluorine atoms necessarily reveals the presence of PFAS, let alone that threatens actual harm to a single consumer who is exposed to it in this way."
Consumer class actions over PFAS are becoming more popular. PFAS are found in firefighting foam and consumer products like non-stick cookware and have made their way into the bloodstreams of virtually every American.
Lawsuits blame the chemicals for a variety of health problems, some of which were linked by a health study that was part of a settlement with DuPont. But others say the science on how PFAS affect the human body is incomplete.
Meanwhile, as the government still requires PFAS in its firefighting foam on military bases, lawyers pursue litigation like an Ohio class action that alleges no illnesses. Most PFAS cases are sent to a federal multidistrict litigation proceeding in South Carolina federal court.
Procter & Gamble says Dalewitz's case fails to allege any health concerns about PTFE, part of the PFAS family.
"(T)he complaint advances speculative and factually unsupported conclusions that amount to conjecture that Glide might contain some PFAS compound, which itself might pose a human health concern, and that the failure to disclose these possibilities might be material to consumers," the motion says.
"This tenuous and far-reaching stacking of inferences is at odds with the law’s requirement that a plaintiff plead sufficient factual matter to set forth a plausible claim."