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

Vol. 1265 | 09 Aug 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 June 2021, there were a total of 318 60-day notices for violation of Prop 65, up from the 292 notices served in May 2021. The majority of the notices were for phthalates, accounting for 43%, while lead had a total of 107 notices, accounting for about 34% of the total number of notices, and the remaining 73 notices (23%) were for other chemicals.

Food accounted for the most notices with 111 (35%). Bags & cases had 57 notices, office products accounted for 20 notices, tools had 19 notices and dietary supplements accounted for 16 notices. Reusable packaging and storage products and cases such as clear plastic cases for umbrellas continued be in violation, with 17 notices for phthalates in June.

Following are additional notices of interest:

• 15 notices for lead in externally decorated glass/ceramicware products
• 14 notices for hexavalent chromium: 13 for leather gloves and 1 notice for a leather flask
• 10 notices for wood dust exposure: 9 for tools like saws and sanders and 1 for footwear for natural cork flats
• 3 notices for footwear: 2 for phthalates and 1 for wood dust
• 1 notice for asbestos for beauty & personal care products
• 1 notice for N-Nitrosodiethylamine for swim caps
• 1 notice for benzene for hand sanitizer

click to enlarge

For questions, please contact Dr. Stella Xingyu Li (xingyu.li@intertek.com, +1 503 351 9612 ) or Pratik Ichhaporia (pratik.ichhaporia@intertek.com , +1 847 212 8273).