Skip to content

Appellate Court Opinion Clarifies Key Aspects of Proposition 65 Exposure Assessments

In a significant victory for defendants and the regulated community at large, the California Court of Appeal (First Appellate District) upheld a Proposition 65 trial court defense win.  In doing so, the appellate court answered two key questions that have muddied the Proposition 65 compliance and defense waters for decades:  May a company average the results of chemical testing of its products? And may a company average the exposure to a reproductive toxicant? The answer to both questions is "yes." In Environmental Law Foundation v. Beech-Nut Nutrition Corp., the plaintiff filed a Proposition 65 lawsuit against a number of food manufacturers…

Read more

BPA Being Considered for Listing as Proposition 65 Female Reproductive Toxicant

On May 7, 2015, the Developmental and Reproductive Toxicant Identification Committee (DARTIC) will consider the listing of Bisphenol A as a Proposition 65 female reproductive toxicant, under the law's State's Qualified Experts listing mechanism.  The meeting follows the release of related Hazard Identification Materials by the Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment for public notice and comment on February 20, 2015. The DARTIC is one of two committees of the OEHHA Science Advisory Board.  (The other is the Carcinogen Identification Committee.)  Members are experts in designated fields and appointed by the California Governor.  Under Proposition 65, the DARTIC advises the Governor and…

Read more

OEHHA Holding Public Hearing on Proposed Prop 65 Warning Regulations and Website

On March 25, 2015, the California Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment will be holding a public hearing on its proposed Proposition 65 warning regulations. The meeting, which begins at 10 am, will be held at the Sacramento Cal/EPA headquarters building located at 1001 I Street.  OEHHA is allotting only two hours for this meeting.  At 1:30 pm at the same location, OEHHA will hold a public hearing on the proposed Proposition 65 website.  That hearing is scheduled to end at 4 pm.  Written comments are due by April 8, 2015. GLO previously reported on these regulatory developments, which will…

Read more

Third Time’s A Charm? – OEHHA Proposes To List Styrene

On February 27, 2015, the California Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment published a Notice of Intent to List styrene as a Proposition 65 carcinogen under the authoritative bodies mechanism.  This is the third time that OEHHA has attempted to list styrene. Comments on the proposed listing must be submitted by March 30, 2015. OEHHA first attempted to list styrene in 2009 under the Labor Code mechanism. That proposed listing was challenged in court, on the basis that the underlying scientific conclusion about the chemical's carcinogenicity, developed by the National Toxicology Program (NTP), was based on "less than sufficient" evidence in…

Read more

OSHA Issues Enforcement Guidance On New GHS Hazard Communication Requirements For Mixtures

With the June 1, 2015 deadline looming for compliance with the 2012 Globally Harmonized System amendments to the Hazard Communication Standard, the federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration has issued an enforcement guidance document that may spell relief for those companies which are unable to obtain necessary information from their upstream suppliers. This enforcement guidance applies only to manufacturers, importers and distributors of chemical mixtures, with respect to their hazard classifications and development of safety data sheets (and for distributors, SDS transmission) and labels. Under the new guidance, such entities will not be cited for failing to meet the applicable deadline, if…

Read more