Prop 65/Environmental Blog

In 1986, the California electorate overwhelmingly passed Proposition 65, formally known as “The Safe Drinking Water and Toxic Enforcement Act of 1986.”  In enacting Proposition 65, the electorate explicitly found that California state agencies had failed to protect Californians from hazardous chemicals that pose a serious potential threat to their health and well-being...
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recent posts - prop 65/environment

posted on July 19, 2013
A California judge issued a tentative and proposed decision this week that would hold that Dole, Gerber, Del Monte, Smucker’s, and other food makers are not required to provide California consumers with health hazard warnings regarding lead in baby food, juices, and packaged fruits made by these companies.  The tentative decision followed a month-long trial in this high-profile Proposition 65 action.  The Environmental Law Foundation brought the action, alleging that food... full text
posted on July 16, 2013
A report sponsored by the Washington Toxics Coalition and Safer States reveals that thousands of children’s products sold in the State of Washington contain toxic chemicals, including mercury, cadmium, cobalt, and phthalate chemicals. In 2008, the Washington State Legislature passed the Children’s Safe Products Act, requiring manufacturers of children’s products to report the presence of 66 Chemicals of High Concern to Children in such products, the levels of the chemicals,... full text
posted on July 15, 2013
On July 12, 2013, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (“FDA”) proposed a limit for arsenic in apple juice. The FDA’s proposal comes nearly two years after concerns about the juice were first raised during a segment of “The Dr. Oz Show.” The new proposed standard for arsenic, a carcinogen, is 10 parts per billion (“ppb”).  The Environmental Protection Agency has already established an arsenic limit for tap water, but this arsenic limit for apple... full text
posted on July 12, 2013
The Chanler Group has received Fiskars Brands, Inc.’s certification, required by the settlement agreement with TCG client John Moore, that 75% of Fiskars’ tools with grips offered for sale in California have been reformulated to contain less than 0.1% of DEHP.  As a result, the final civil penalty of $60,000, which Fiskars agreed to in the settlement, will be waived.  The penalty waiver provision of the settlement provided an incentive for Fiskars to promptly reformulate... full text
posted on July 9, 2013
California’s Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment (OEHHA) has officially designated hydrogen cyanide (HCN) and cyanide salts (CN salts) as chemicals known to the State of California to cause reproductive harm, effective July 5, 2013.  Beginning July 5, 2014, Companies selling or distributing products that contain HCN or CN salts in the State of California will first have to provide consumers with a health hazard warning. HCN and CN salts are used in mining, metallurgy,... full text
posted on June 25, 2013
John Moore, a client of The Chanler Group, and Mannington Mills, Inc., a flooring manufacturer, reached a settlement this month, resolving Moore’s allegations that Mannington violated Proposition 65 by offering vinyl sheet flooring containing the phthalate chemical benzyl butyl phthalate (“BBP”) for sale in California without first providing the required health hazard warnings. California’s Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment (“OEHHA”) has... full text
posted on June 20, 2013
Yesterday, the California Senate Environmental Quality Committee (“EQ Committee”) revised AB 227, the proposed amendment to Proposition 65 authored by Assemblyman Mike Gatto.  While preserving the 14-day cure period for exposures to alcoholic beverages consumed on site, certain foods and beverages prepared on site, tobacco smoke, and engine exhaust in parking lots, the EQ Committee amended the bill in a few significant ways.  If enacted, the newly amended version of AB 227... full text
posted on June 19, 2013
Democrats in Congress, including Senator Richard Blumenthal (D-CT) and Reps. Frank Pallone (D-N.J.) and Rosa DeLauro (D-Conn.), are concerned about the White House Office of Management and Budget’s (OMB) extended delays in clearing the U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA) proposed guidelines to reduce the amount of arsenic, a known carcinogen, in fruit juice. In separate letters, they urged the OMB to release the guidelines. Senator Blumenthal’s letter to the OMB reminded... full text
posted on June 19, 2013
Peter Englander, Whitney Leeman, and Laurence Vinocur--clients of The Chanler Group--served twelve 60-Day Notices of Proposition 65 Violation today.  The notices were served to companies offering products such as furniture, hand tools, and jackets for sale in California containing chemicals known to cause cancer or reproductive harm, without the required health hazard warning.  TCG's citizen enforcers allege that the companies' products contain the phthalate DEHP, the flame... full text
posted on June 17, 2013
Brian Johnson, an attorney for The Chanler Group, shredded guitar at the first annual Law Rocks! San Francisco on June 13, a “battle of the bands” style rock concert in which five groups of legal professionals fought it out on stage to raise nearly $23,000 for five local charities. Five TCG employees also turned out to support their colleague, donate to charity, and enjoy the festivities at The Independent, a live music venue in San Francisco’s trendy NoPa (North of the... full text