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 June 2020, there were a total of 298 60-day notices for violation of Prop 65, up from the 198 notices served in May 2020. The majority of the notices were for phthalates, accounting for 37% of the total notices. Another 33% of the notices were for lead or lead compounds. The remaining 30% of the notices were for other chemicals, which includes acrylamide, cadmium, marijuana smoke, etc.
Food accounted for 139 (47%) of the total notices, followed by bags, which includes purses and cases, with 42 notices for phthalate content (14%). Of the 42 notices for bags and cases, 14 were specifically for packaging or cases for toiletries and personal care products. Tools & hardware had 13 notices (12 phthalate notices, 1 lead notice). Sports & recreational products accounted for 9 phthalate notices while externally decorated glass and ceramicware accounted for 5 notices for lead. There were also 4 60-day notices each for phthalates in apparel and footwear.
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