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From Home Furnishing Business

AHFA to Participate in Prop 65 Public Workshop

April 1, 2014  by in Industry   

Governor Jerry Brown proposed the reforms in May 2013, stating that they would reduce unnecessary litigation and result in more useful information for the public on what chemicals they are being exposed to and how they can protect themselves.

The workshop is sponsored by the Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment, the California agency that administers Prop 65.  Following the April workshop, OEHHA may make changes to the proposed reforms. Final adoption is not expected until early summer 2015.

Proposition 65 is California’s Safe Drinking Water and Toxic Enforcement Act passed in 1986. The law was intended to address growing concerns about toxic chemicals in consumer products and in the environment. The law requires the state to publish a list of chemicals known to cause cancer or birth defects or other reproductive harm. The list must be updated once a year, and it now contains nearly 900 chemicals.  Any home furnishings products that contain one or more of these chemicals must carry a Prop 65 warning label if those products are to be offered for sale in California.

If adopted, the reforms to Prop 65 would establish new minimum requirements for the warning labels. In addition to the word WARNING, the labels for all products other than food would be required to carry the Globally Harmonized System pictogram for toxic hazards. 

The proposal also calls for OEHHA to establish a list of up to 12 “commonly-known” chemicals that would have to be mentioned by name in the text of the warning. Among the 12 chemicals currently on this list are “chlorinated tris,” formaldehyde and lead.

The proposal states that the list of 12 “commonly-known” chemicals “is not intended to be exhaustive and may be changed over time as the public becomes more familiar with the improved warning format.”

New warning labels also would have to carry a link to a new OEHHA Web site. The Web site, which is not yet under development, would be intended to provide the public with access to more information on chemicals, including possible routes of exposure and, if applicable, any actions that individuals can take to reduce or avoid exposure.

Manufacturers would bear the responsibility of providing OEHHA with the information posted on the new website, including: the name and contact information for the manufacturer of any product covered by the warning; the name of the chemical or chemicals for which the warning is provided; the type of occupational, environmental or product exposure the warning is intended to cover; the type of harm (cancer, birth defect or reproductive) caused by the named chemical; the anticipated route of exposure to the chemical; and information about preventative actions a person can take to minimize exposure.

The proposal allows retailers with 25 or fewer employees to fix warning violations within 14 days. No other provisions for reducing “unnecessary litigation” are contained in the proposal.

Last year more than 200 notices of Prop 65 violations were filed against furniture companies for failing to notify consumers in California that their upholstered products contained the common flame retardant chemical TDCPP. Many of the cases remain unsettled, but, according to AHFA’s most recent review of the California Attorney General’s Web site(oag.ca.gov), which logs all settlements, the home furnishings industry has already paid out over $3.6 million in court costs and attorney fees for these violations.