NEWS

60-Day Notice Trends – Environmental Exposures to Hexavalent Chromium from Metals Processing Facilities

A series of Prop. 65 notices alleging environmental exposures to hexavalent chromium were served in late June and early July 2020. The notices allege that metals processing and treating facilities located in Southern California expose individuals near the facilities to hexavalent chromium without warning.

OEHHA Again Proposes Naturally Occurring Lead Levels for Chili and Tamarind Candies

The Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment (OEHHA) has re-issued a proposed rule to set the level of lead that is naturally-occurring in candies flavored with chili or tamarind.

Third District Court Of Appeal Upholds DINP Listing

On June 10, 2020, the Third District Court of Appeal issued an opinion authored by Justice Vance W. Raye, in ACC v. OEHHA. The opinion affirmed the trial court's decision in full, rejecting the American Chemistry Council's (ACC) challenge to OEHHA's listing of diisononyl phthalate (DINP) as a carcinogen under Proposition 65.

Attorney General Becerra Objects to EPA's Risk Evaluation for PERC

On July 6, 2020, California Attorney General Xavier Becerra, along with fourteen other state Attorneys General, sent a comment letter to the EPA strongly objecting to EPA's draft risk evaluation for perchloroethylene ('PERC").

OEHHA Finalizes Safe Harbor for Chlorpyrifos

The Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment (OEHHA) has announced that the Office of Administrative Law has approved its recently adopted Proposition 65 Maximum Allowable Dose Levels (MADLs) for the pesticide chlorpyrifos.

DTSC Rejects Claims by SPF System Manufacturers Over Adequacy Of Alternatives

The Department of Toxic Substances Control has sent a Notice of Deficiency to each manufacturer of spray polyurethane foam systems with unreacted methylene diphenyl diisocyanates (MDI)—known as SPF Systems, who filed an Abridged Alternatives Analysis (Abridged AA) pursuant to the Department's Safer Consumer Products (SCP) program.

Bayer Settles Most of Roundup Claims

The Bayer Corporation, headquartered in Germany, has resolved most of the claims lodged against it based on exposure to its widely-used pesticide Roundup.

Attorney General Asks Private Enforcers to Grant Requests for Extensions of 60-Day Notice Period Due to COVID-19

On June 5, 2020, the Attorney General sent a letter to 28 law firms representing private Prop. 65 enforcers. The letter, authored by Supervising Deputy Attorney General Harrison M. Pollak, asks Prop. 65 private enforcers to cooperate with Public Prosecutors and alleged violators in extending the 60-day notice period for "60-day notices issued during, or shortly before, [Governor Newsom's] emergency proclamation."

State AGs Push EPA to Broaden Proposed Drinking Water Standard for PFAS

California Attorney General Xavier Becerra has joined with the AGs of 21 other states to applaud U.S. EPA's proposal to establish national drinking water standards for two per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS).

Methylene Chloride Final Risk Assessment is First Under Revised TSCA

U.S. EPA has made methylene chloride the first existing chemical to have a final risk assessment under the 2016 version of the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA).

Federal Judge Issues Final Injunction Banning Prop. 65 Warning for Glyphosate

On June 22, U.S. District Court Judge William Shubb issued his final ruling in National Association of Wheat Growers v. Zeise, banning enforcement of the requirement that manufacturers of glyphosate containing pesticides attach a Proposition 65 cancer warning to their products.

Attorney General Issues Letters to Private Enforcers Finding Notices Regarding Laboratory Chemicals and Phthalates in Cables Lack Merit

In April and May 2020, the Attorney General sent letters to two private Proposition 65 enforcers. The letters, authored by Deputy Attorney General Susan Fiering, advised attorneys Benjamin D. Weston and Gregory Sheffer that certain 60-day notices they served lacked sufficient factual information to establish the bases for the certificates of merit. The Attorney General thus requested that the notices be withdrawn.

OEHHA Alters Proposed Update to Drinking Water Goal for Pesticide DBCP

The Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment (OEHHA) has issued a revised proposal updating its public health goal (PHG) for 1-2-dibromo-3-chloropropane (DBCP) in drinking water.

Ninth Circuit Invalidates Registrations of Dicamba Pesticides

The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals has voided U.S. EPA's 2018 registration of three herbicides containing the active ingredient dicamba.

California AG Leads Coalition of State Asking that EPA Start Over With TSCA Asbestos Evaluation

California Attorney General Xavier Becerra and Massachusetts AG Maura Healey lead a coalition of 14 attorneys general who are asking U.S EPA to withdraw its current asbestos draft risk evaluation under TSCA and to start over with a new evaluation curing the current version's flaws.

EPA Announces Beginning of CDR Reporting Period

U.S. EPA has announced the commencement of the 2020 Chemical Date Reporting (CDR) Period pursuant to the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA). Reporting under EPA's CDR rule will commence on June 1, 2020 and end on November 30, 2020.

NTP Report Likely to Lead to PFOA Prop. 65 Carcinogen Listing

The National Toxicology Program (NTP) has released the results of a study of laboratory rat exposure to perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA). The study is likely to result in the listing of PFOA as a Proposition 65 carcinogen due to the NTP's status as an "authoritative body" under the Proposition.

9th Circuit Rebukes EPA Over Delayed Response to Pesticide Petition

The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals has given the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) 90 days to respond to a petition requesting cancellation of the pesticide tetrachlorvinphos (TCVP), calling its failure to respond after more than a decade "egregious."

OEHHA Proposes Safe Harbor Levels for Water Disinfection Byproducts

The Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment (OEHHA) has proposed safe harbor levels for three haloacetic acids listed as carcinogens under Proposition 65—dibromoacetic acid, dichloroacetic acid and trichloroacetic acid.

Judge Rules that Plaintiff Cannot Rely on Notice in Earlier Prop. 65 Action

A U.S. District Court judge has ruled that plaintiffs in a Proposition 65 private enforcement action cannot rely on a 60-day notice in an earlier, similar case to meet the notice requirement in their case.