U.S. Senators David Bitter (R-La) and the late Frank R. Lautenberg* (D-NJ) last month proposed new legislation that, if enacted, would modernize the 1976 Toxic Substance Control Act (TSCA). The proposed Chemical Safety Improvement Act of 2013 would ensure that all chemicals registered in the United States and all newly created chemicals are screened for safety to the...
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) last week proposed two rules to help protect Americans from exposure to the harmful chemical formaldehyde.
Formaldehyde is commonly known as a preservative for scientific specimens, but it has a wide variety of other uses, including in adhesives and resins for composite wood products—such as hardwood plywood,...
Recently, chemicals intended to prevent fires such as brominated flame retardants (PBDEs and others) and chlorinated Tris (TDCPP, TCEP, and others) have been shown to cause cancer, disrupt human thyroid function, and pose other potential health hazards. These chemicals are commonly present in furniture and electronics in order to meet fire safety laws. However, when...
Whitney Leeman and Laurence Vinocur--clients of The Chanler Group--served ten 60-Day Notices of Proposition 65 Violation today. The notices were served to companies offering products such as furniture, greeting cards, medical instrument cases, and hand tools for sale in California containing chemicals known to cause cancer or reproductive harm, without the required...
Assembly Bill 227, an amendment to California’s Safe Drinking Water and Toxic Enforcement Act of 1986 (commonly known as Proposition 65), was passed by the California Assembly last Friday and is now headed for the California Senate. If the bill passes the Senate and Governor Edmund G. (“Jerry”) Brown signs it, it will become law. The bill was...
Earlier this month, Environmental Health Perspectives, a National Institutes of Health journal, reported on two studies showing that exposure to the carcinogenic flame retardant TDCPP, commonly referred to as chlorinated tris, may be widespread.
TDCPP is a flame retardant widely used in polyurethane foam padding in furniture and automobiles. A recent survey found that...
Effective May 24, 2013, California’s Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment (OEHHA) has designated clomiphene citrate a chemical known to the State of California to cause cancer. Companies offering products for sale in California that expose consumers to clomiphene citrate will first have to provide health hazard warnings. Businesses have one year...
In a study released this month by the University of California, Berkeley’s School of Public Health, 32 lip products used by young Asian women in Oakland, California were tested in order to assess the potential health risks associated with ingesting, or swallowing, small amounts of the products. The study found that the tested products contained titanium and...
Peter Englander, Whitney Leeman, and Laurence Vinocur--three clients of The Chanler Group--served ten 60-Day Notices of Proposition 65 Violation last Friday, May 17. The notices were served to companies offering products such as furniture and hand tools for sale in California containing chemicals known to cause cancer or reproductive harm, without the required health...
A San Francisco Superior Court judge recently ruled that dietary supplements are “food,” which may exempt the manufacturers from having to provide health hazard warnings for their products that contain chemicals known to cause cancer and reproductive harm under Proposition 65.
In 2008, citizen enforcer Stephen Gillett brought a case against supplement...
