U.S. – October 2020 California Proposition 65 – 60-Day Notices Analysis

Vol. 1217 | 21 Jan 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 October 2020, there were a total of 340 60-day notices for alleged violation of Prop 65, up from the 326 notices served in September 2020. Phthalates accounted for about 39% of the 60-day notices. Of the rest, 18% were for lead or lead compounds and the remaining 43% were for various other chemicals including acrylamide, cadmium, chromium VI, bisphenol A (BPA), arsenic, formaldehyde, and marijuana smoke.

Food, which accounted for 131 notices, has been excluded from the graph. Bags & cases accounted for 62 notices, primarily for phthalates (49 notices), but also for BPA. Dietary supplements had a total of 21 notices that were primarily for lead and lead compounds. Externally decorated ceramicware and glassware products such as mugs, bowls and trays had 4 notices for lead. There were 20 notices for tools & hardware products (18 notices for phthalates and 2 for lead).

Some interesting products and trends in October were:

• 1 notice for hexavalent chromium in footwear products
• 15 notices for BPA, primarily cell phone cases, mounts, etc.
• 7 notices for bedding products for formaldehyde
• 1 notice for phthalates in children’s rainwear apparel

Click to enlarge

For questions, please contact Stephanie Bilotti (stephanie.bilotti@intertek.com, +1 862 316 5877 ) or Dr. Pratik Ichhaporia (pratik.ichhaporia@intertek.com , +1-847-212-8273).