FLORENCE, S.C. (Legal Newsline) - A South Carolina federal lawsuit alleges harmful ingredients in Walmart's Equate-brand acne treatment.
Walmart Inc. is facing a class-action lawsuit led by plaintiff Emily Sanderlin for allegedly selling acne treatment products that contain high levels of benzene, a known human carcinogen.
The suit, filed April 2 in Florence, alleges that Walmart's Equate brand acne products, which are formulated with benzoyl peroxide (BPO), degrade into benzene under normal use and storage conditions.
This issue was discovered by Valisure LLC, a laboratory known for spring-boarding mass torts, which found allegedly dangerous levels of benzene in the BPO products during testing.
The lab also found that benzene was released into the surrounding air even when the product packaging was closed. Walmart has not listed benzene among the ingredients on its product labels or advertising materials.
Attorneys T. Ryan Langley of Langley Law Firm in Spartanburg and Christopher Hood of Heninger Garrison Davis of Alabama represent the plaintiff. The suit comes on the heels of at least one other similar case, filed in Chicago.