USA: Changes to short-form warnings under California Proposition 65

The California’s Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment (OEHHA) has again proposed changes to the labelling requirements (short-form warnings) under the California Proposition 65.

The first proposal came in December 2021 but has recently been updated due to the uproar from the general public.

The following changes are the result of the second modification:

the short form can be used on product labels of any size, regardless of package size and shape
the existing provision requiring a minimum of 6-point type size when using short-form warnings remains unchanged
adding a reference to clarify the existing requirement “to render the warning likely to be seen, read, and understood by an ordinary individual under customary conditions of purchase or use”
changing the warning content language “exposes you to” in the warning statement to “can expose you to”
extend the implementation period of the regulation from one year to two years after the amendments become effective

In 1986, in California an initiative (known as officially known as the Safe Drinking Water and Toxic Enforcement Act) was approved to address the growing concerns about exposure to toxic chemicals. The law requires California to publish a list of chemicals known to cause cancer or reproductive toxicity, and for businesses with 10 or more employees to provide warnings when they knowingly and intentionally cause significant exposures to listed chemicals.

This list currently includes more than 900 chemicals. Proposition 65 does not ban them or restrict their sale. However, the warnings must be placed on the products and are intended to help Californians make informed decisions about their exposures to these chemicals from the products they use and the places they go.

A sample new warning may look like this:

“[yellow warning triangle with an exclamation mark] WARNING: This product can expose you to chemicals including arsenic, which is known to the State of California to cause cancer. For more information, go to www.P65Warnings.ca.gov.”

More information can be found on the website of the Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment (OEHHA) which administers the Proposition 65 program: https://www.p65warnings.ca.gov/businesses/new-proposition-65-warnings