Court Allows Bisphenol A Proposition 65 Designation to Proceed

A Sacramento County Superior Court judge has ruled to allow California’s Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment (OEHHA) to designate Bisphenol A (BPA) as a chemical known to the State of California to cause reproductive harm under Proposition 65, Prop65 Clearinghouse reported.  The decision is likely to be appealed by the American Chemistry Council (ACC).

Proposition 65 requires companies offering products for sale that contain chemicals known to the State of California to cause cancer and/or reproductive harm to provide California consumers with a health hazard warning.  When OEHHA designated BPA a reproductive toxicant in 2013, ACC sued to halt it and won a preliminary injunction pending trial.  That injunction remains in place until the end of the appeal period.

BPA is used in a variety of common consumer products, such as hard plastic water bottles, thermal paper such as is used for sales receipts, and epoxy resins used to line the insides of food cans.  It has been linked to obesity, prostate cancer, and reproductive harm.  The FDA has banned its use in baby formula packaging.

The Chanler Group represents citizen enforcers who, acting in the public interest, commence actions against businesses offering products for sale in California that contain chemicals known to cause cancer or reproductive harm without first providing the health hazard warning required by Proposition 65. Citizen enforcers bringing Proposition 65 actions in the public interest may obtain a Court Judgment imposing civil penalties, an injunction requiring reformulation of products, and/or provision of health hazard warnings. The Chanler Group has represented citizen enforcers of Proposition 65 for more than twenty years.