Exploding gas tanks: A report on the public health hazard and regulatory challenges surrounding portable gasoline containers

In 1992, U.S. metal container, America's leading metal jerry can producer for nearly three decades, changed its name to Blitz, U.S.A. in acknowledgement of its flagship product, the plastic blitz can. Manufactured for consumer use in 1987, and sold by Wal-Mart, the red portable gasoline container both lightened the load and cheapened the cost of gasoline storage. These benefits were mitigated by steep public health costs. In contrast to steel safety cans, plastic portable gasoline containers are incapable of controlling the flammable vapors generated by gasoline, or grounding potentially deadly sparks. Without a flame-arresting modification (a twenty-five cent item), plastic gasoline containers spontaneously generate flammable vapors prone to causing explosions near ignition sources, causing injury or death. In 1989, the Consumer Product Safety Commission(CPSC) formed a committee to review the specifications for portable gasoline containers in response to a series of consumer deaths. The committee amended the child-proofing specifications for the containers. Blitz U.S.A., a member of the committee, opposed the addition of flame arrestors and continued to manufacture their containers without the modification. Wal-Mart played a key role in this decision. Blitz currently exports this product despite the 2009 domestic regulatory ban. We will review Blitz's and Wal-Mart's knowledge of this product safety hazard as referenced in corporate documents produced in litigation. Blitz's bankruptcy resulting from litigation caused this case study to be used to undermine the public health benefits of tort litigation. Instead, it is an example of regulatory failure and the public health benefits of tort litigation.