Monthly Archives: February 2019

Clarifying Amendments Proposed for Sellers Under Proposition 65

California’s Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment (OEHHA) has proposed amendments to clarify the Proposition 65 regulations that became effective on August 30, 2018. OEHHA determined that the changes were necessary after numerous comments from stakeholders. The new warning regulations require that manufacturers, producers, packagers, suppliers and distributors of consumer products assume primary responsibility for complying with the regulations, while retailers are obligated to place exposure warnings on products only in limited situations.  Not surprisingly, the updated regulations have caused some confusion among various parties regarding their responsibilities. Now, the recently proposed amendments by OEHHA seek to simplify and better…

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OEHHA Intends to List PCBTF as Proposition 65 Carcinogen

In November 2018, California’s Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment (OEHHA) announced its intention to list PCBTF as a carcinogen to the list of chemicals known to the state to cause cancer or reproductive toxicity.  This decision was prompted by a 2018 report by the National Institutes of Health’s (NIH) National Toxicology Program (NTP) identifying “clear evidence” that PCBTF is carcinogenic. The study conducted by NTP took place over two years and purported to find an increased incidence of cancerous liver tumors in male and female mice that were exposed to the chemical. PCBTF is used as a solvent in…

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California Department of Pesticide Regulation Recommends Temporary Restrictions on Chlorpyrifos

California’s Department of Pesticide Regulation recommended new interim restrictions for chlorpyrifos, a once widely used pesticide whose use has declined over the years and whose safety concerns prompted DPR to designate it as a “restricted material” in 2015.  The agency’s temporary guidelines include a ban on using the pesticide in crop dusting and applying it to most crops. Chlorpyrifos is currently used on approximately 60 crops statewide including grapes, almonds, and oranges. Chlorpyrifos has been detected not only on foods, but also in drinking water.  A study in 2012 by the University of California at Berkeley reported that 87 percent…

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