U.S. – January 2021 California Proposition 65 – 60-Day Notices Analysis

Vol. 1231 | 17 Mar 2021

The Safe Drinking Water and Toxic Enforcement Act of 1986, commonly referred to as Proposition 65 (Prop 65), is enforced by the California Attorney General’s office or any district attorney or certain city attorneys or by any individual acting in the public interest. Prop 65 requires that an individual acting in the public interest, to enforce the Act give notice of the impending action to the person alleged to be committing the violation, along with the Attorney General, district attorneys and certain city attorneys in which the violation is alleged to have occurred. The notice must be sent to these parties no less than 60 days before commencing the action; thus, this notice is commonly referred to as the “60-day Notice of Violation”.

In January 2021, there were a total of 236 60-day notices for violation of Prop 65, down from the 293 notices served in December 2020. A total of 111 notices were for phthalates, accounting for 45% of the total. Of the rest, 30% were for lead or lead compounds and the remaining 25% were for various other chemicals including acrylamide, cadmium, chromium, arsenic, mercury, marijuana smoke, etc.

Food accounted for 90 (38%) of all notices and has been excluded from the graph. The storage and packaging category had the second greatest number of notices, accounting for 28 total notices. The next category of products with the greatest number of notices was bags, which includes purses and cases, with 27 notices (11%). A total of 25 of the 27 notices for bags and cases were for phthalates. Notably, the remaining two notices for bags and cases were for BPA. Other interesting notices in January were 4 notices for pet products, which were all for phthalates. There were also 9 notices issued for lead in glass and ceramicware, a trend we have seen continue from previous months. Finally, there was 1 notice for safety goggles, which was issued for phthalates in the clear plastic panel of the product.

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For questions, please contact Stephanie Bilotti (Stephanie.Bilotti@intertek.com, +1 862 316 5877).