Important Update: OEHHA Provides Proposed Amendments to Proposition 65’s Warning Requirements

On October 27, California’s Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment (OEHHA) proposed amendments (available here) to Proposition 65 (otherwise known as the Safe Drinking Water and Toxic Enforcement Act of 1986) warning requirements which, if enacted, would:

• Require short-form warnings to:
  • Name at least one Proposition 65-listed chemical per endpoint
  • Be in one of two specified formats
• Require warnings on products purchased over the internet or from catalogs to:
  • Be included on or with the product when it is delivered to the consumer
  • Be prominently displayed on the product’s display page
• Allow the use of short-form warnings on food product labels, with new specific language for such warnings that also requires at least one chemical to be identified
• Allow all warnings to use the words “CA WARNING:” or “CALIFORNIA WARNING:” in place of the word “WARNING:” alone, although the word “WARNING” could continue to be used 

Examples of the proposed short-form warning language for consumer products are:

^⚠️CA WARNING: Risk of cancer and reproductive harm from exposure to lead. 

See www.P65Warnings.ca.gov.

-OR-

^⚠️CA WARNING: Can expose you to lead, a carcinogen and reproductive toxicant.

See www.P65Warnings.ca.gov.

Examples of the proposed short-form warning language for food labels are:

CA WARNING: Risk of cancer and reproductive harm from exposure to lead. See www.P65Warnings.ca.gov/food.

-OR-

CA WARNING: Can expose you to lead, a carcinogen and reproductive toxicant. See www.P65Warnings.ca.gov/food.

If enacted, consumer products manufactured and labeled with short-form warning language two or more years before the amendments become effective may be sold regardless of when the consumer purchases the product.

The proposed amendments also contain new warning requirements for both off-highway motor vehicle parts and recreational marine vessel parts. 

Stakeholders may submit comments on the proposed amendment until December 20, 2023. A public hearing is scheduled for December 13, 2023, at 10:00 a.m. (PST). Keller and Heckman will continue to monitor any revisions or updates to the proposed amendments. If you have any questions regarding this or any other Proposition 65 matter, please email prop65@khlaw.com.