The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission's proceedings against Ansell Limited (formerly Pacific Dunlop limited) were settled today following acceptance of the Federal Court of undertakings from Ansell Limited about product safety advice to consumers about its latex gloves.
Ansell has undertaken that it will not, for a period of three years, supply its household use natural rubber latex gloves in Australia unless the gloves' packaging clearly displays a warning regarding the risk of latex allergy to some persons in the same terms as currently used by Ansell.
Ansell Limited also provided undertakings to the court that it will continue to implement a rigorous trade practices compliance program and contribute to the ACCC's costs in the proceedings. The proceedings were discontinued by consent of the parties.
The ACCC proceedings involved an allegation under section 52 of the Trade Practices Act 1974 that Ansell Limited had engaged in misleading and deceptive conduct by not including a warning on its household use rubber gloves about the risk of latex allergy.
While in late 1998, following an agreement with the ACCC, Ansell Limited began labelling all its household natural rubber latex gloves with a warning about latex, the ACCC was nevertheless of the view that it ought to have warned consumers from at least 1995, if not earlier. Further, following a comprehensive national survey undertaken by ACCC staff in March 2001 to June 2001, some styles of Ansell's household use rubber gloves were found for sale in retail outlets without the agreed warning.
Proceedings against Ansell Limited were instituted by the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission in the Federal Court in Melbourne in January 2000 initially under section 75AD (product liability) of the Act. The action under section 52 of the Act was added in June 2001.
The proceedings initially sought compensation for a consumer who has allegedly developed a serious form of latex (rubber) allergy through her use of Pacific Dunlop's Ansell brand of disposable (single use) and non-disposable household rubber gloves. The proceedings were brought under the representative action and product liability provisions of the Act. The ACCC alleged that Pacific Dunlop was liable to compensate the consumer due to the absence at the time the product was originally sold of warning labelling as to the risk of latex allergy.
In December 2002, following a private settlement between the consumer and Ansell Limited in late December 2002, the ACCC's product liability proceedings under section 75AD were discontinued. The section 52 proceedings however remained.
"The matter was settled without any admissions by Ansell or findings made by the court", ACCC Chairman, Mr Graeme Samuel, said today.
"Since the institution of the proceedings there has been a further commitment to compliance by Ansell. The ACCC is satisfied that all of Ansell's household use rubber latex gloves supplied in Australia now carry the agreed warning on latex allergy.
"In addition, after having had their attention drawn to the issue by ACCC staff, other manufacturers of household rubber latex gloves now also label their gloves with warnings about latex allergy".
The ACCC was also cognisant of the scientific debate that still exists as to the relative risk of latex allergy posed by some latex containing consumer products, including household use gloves. The ACCC believes that its proceedings have contributed to the current scientific debate regarding the risk of latex allergy posed by consumer products as opposed to medical products, and that there will be greater research into this area in the future.