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OEHHA Solicits Public Input on Possible Revisions to Proposition 65 Regulations

On September 16, 2014, the California Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment published an announcement soliciting public comments on a number of potential regulatory proposals revising the Proposition 65 regulations.  Public comments are due November 17, 2014, and OEHHA plans to hold a public workshop in the near future on this topic.

OEHHA’s request for input is part of recent efforts to reform and update the Proposition 65 regulations and follows its pre-regulatory draft proposal, released on March 7, 2014, to revise the Proposition 65 warning regulations.  That pre-regulatory proposal has met with significant resistance from the regulated community as GLO previously has reported.  In response to that resistance, OEHHA is reported to be making several significant changes to the March proposal.

In its September 16 request for public input on potential revisions to other parts of the Proposition 65 regulations, OEHHA has focused on:

  • Alternative risk levels for chemicals in foods
  • Updating the “naturally occurring in food” regulation
  • Updating and streamlining the Safe Use Determination process
  • Clarifying regulatory provisions on averaging exposures to Proposition 65 chemicals
  • Chemicals to give priority in the development or update of safe harbor levels
  • Areas in which interpretive guidance is needed
  • Use of data on postnatal development exposures

With OEHHA opening the door to potential revisions to these and other provisions of the Proposition 65 regulations, it would behoove the regulated community to submit comments and make its voice heard — or risk having representatives of the plaintiff’s bar drive the outcome of OEHHA’s reform efforts.

 

Ms. Grimaldi maintains a diverse environmental law practice focusing on chemical and product regulation and litigation defense. Her practice areas include Proposition 65, California's Safer Consumer Products Regulations, California's Rigid Plastic Packaging Container Act and the federal Toxic Substances Control Act. Ms. Grimaldi graduated from the University of California Hastings College of the Law magna cum laude and holds a Bachelor of Science Degree in Bacteriology from University of California, Davis. Prior to attending law school, she worked as a research assistant in laboratories at the University of California, San Francisco Cancer Research Institute and at the University of California, San Francisco School of Medicine.