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California’s Proposition 65
The California Safe Drinking Water and Toxic Enforcement Act of 1986, also known as
Proposition 65, requires businesses to provide warnings such as signs or hangtags for
products containing any of approximately 800 chemicals. The statute is a notice statute
– it does not require that companies not use the chemicals, rather that they just notify
customers that the chemical is in the product.
A Proposition 65 warning does not mean a product is in violation of any product safety
standards or other requirements. Even the State of California has stated, ‘The fact that
a product bears a Proposition 65 warning does not mean by itself that the product is
unsafe. Indeed, some of the substances on the Prop 65 list have not been determined to be
carcinogens (known to cause cancer) by groups and experts outside the state of California.
This means that not every compound labeled as a possible cancer-causing substance
under Prop 65 has been proven to the worldwide scientific community to actually cause
cancer.
Additionally, while this warning label is only required for products delivered to residents of
California, because the vast majority of retailers, including ourselves, do not segregate their
California vs. non-California inventory, many products are delivered to and/or purchased by
consumers outside the state of California with this warning label.