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

Vol. 1253 | 18 Jun 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 May 2021, there were a total of 292 60-day notices for violation of Prop 65, up from the 156 notices served in April 2021. The majority of the notices were for phthalates, accounting for 43%, while lead had a total of 49 notices, about 16% of the total number of notices, and 41% of notices were for other chemicals.

A total of 64 notices (22%) were for tools, bags and cases accounted for 48 notices (16%), packaging and storage products had 9 notices (3%), while food accounted for 61 notices (20%) and dietary supplements accounted for 14 notices (4%). Reusable packaging and storage products and cases such as toiletry kits and bedding storage products continued to have a large number notices for phthalates.

Following are some notable 60-day notices:

• 58 notices for wood dust exposure from tools
• 8 notices for lead in externally decorated ceramicware products
• 6 notices for asbestos in personal care products
• 6 notices for phthalates in fashion accessories
• 5 notices for bisphenol-A kitchen products, storage products and phone accessories
• 4 notices for phthalates in medical equipment such as stethoscopes and blood pressure kits
• 1 notice for N-Nitrosodiethylamine in workout bands
• 1 notice for hexavalent chromium in gloves

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For questions, please contact Laxmi Ravikumar (laxmi.ravikumar@intertek.com, +1 630 209 9265 ) or Pratik Ichhaporia (pratik.ichhaporia@intertek.com , +1 847 212 8273).