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

Vol. 1208 | 07 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 September 2020, there were a total of 326 60-day notices for violation of Prop 65, up from the 302 notices served in August 2020. More than half the notices were for phthalates, about 53%. Of the rest, 25% were for lead or lead compound and the remaining were for various other chemicals including acrylamide, cadmium, chromium, bisphenol A, arsenic, marijuana smoke, etc.

Food accounted for 110 (33%) of all notices. Next were bags & cases with 60 notices (18%) for phthalates. Of the 60 notices for bags and cases, 12 were specifically for bags or cases for toiletries and personal care products. Next, with 13 notices, packaging materials has been a growing category; including packaging for a variety of products such as tools and stationery. Externally decorated ceramicware and glassware products such as mugs, bowls and trays had 13 notices for lead. There were 16 notices for sports & recreation products (15 notices for phthalates and 1 for lead), two notices for phthalates in footwear, and 7 notices for phthalates in headphones.

Some interesting products and trends in September include:

• 6 notices for lead in baby care products such as diaper rash creams and baby powder
• 7 notices for phthalates in fashion accessories, particularly jewelry boxes and watch bands
• 9 notices for phone and tablet accessories such as cases, mounts, etc. Of note, there were 4 notices for bisphenol-A in phone and tablet cases.
• 1 notice for chromium in leather gloves
• 1 notice for phthalates in rainwear
• 1 notice for formaldehyde in bedding product

For questions, please contact:

Laxmi Ravikumar
laxmi.ravikumar@intertek.com
630-209-9265