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 Oct 2022, there were a total of 271 60-day notices for violation of Prop 65. The majority of the notices were for Lead (40%) and Phthalates (33%). The remaining 27% were notices for the presence of other chemicals.
Of the reported notices, bags and cases had 22 notices for the presence of phthalates. 11 notices were served for the presence of phthalates in the packaging of various consumer products. Externally decorated glass and ceramics had 23 notices for lead; dietary supplements had 10 notices for the presence of lead; sports and outdoors accounted for 5 notices for the presence of phthalates and 2 notices for the presence of other chemicals. Footwear had 10 notices for the presence of phthalates.
Noticeably, the category of beauty and personal care had 43 notices for the presence of other chemicals such as Titanium Dioxide, and Diethanolamine and 1 notice for the presence of phthalates. Apparel such as bibs and jackets had a total of 4 notices for presence of Perfluorooctane Sulfonate (PFOS) and/or Perfluorooctanoic Acid (PFOA). A total of 3 notices were served for presence of Hexavalent Chromium in leather guitar straps, leather gloves and batting gloves. A total of 6 notices were served for presence of Bisphenol A (BPA) in sports bras and athletic shirts made primarily of Polyester and Spandex, cellphone accessories, eyewear, pill splitters and helmets. Further, 1 notice was served for the presence of Cadmium in belts.
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