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

Vol. 1272 | 13 Oct 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 July 2021, there were a total of 253 60-day notices for violation of Prop 65, down from the 318 notices served in June 2021. The majority of the notices were for phthalates, accounting for 39%. There were nearly as many notices related to lead which made up 33% of all notices (when food is included as a category).

Of the remaining, 45 notices were for cadmium, arsenic, or acrylamide in food. 15 notices were for benzene, DEA / Cocamide DEA, or benzophenone in beauty & personal care products. A total of 9 notices were for bisphenol A in a variety of products such as receipt paper, face shields and cases for electronics. Noticeably there were 3 acetaldehyde notices for hand sanitizers, 5 titanium dioxide notices for cosmetics, and 2 hexavalent chromium notices, one for work gloves and another for grill gloves.

Food accounted for 102 notices (40%). Bags & cases had 36 notices, beauty & personal care products accounted for 27 notices, reusable packaging had 9 notices while dietary supplements accounted for 11 notices. Apparel & apparel accessories had 5 notices for phthalates.

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For questions, please contact Matthew Nudell (matthew.nudell@intertek.com, +1 716-225-9006) or Pratik Ichhaporia (pratik.ichhaporia@intertek.com , +1 847 212 8273).