Toxic Secrets: Shedding Light on Hidden Hazards through Laws Like California's Proposition 65
Written by May Myo Myint
Have you ever seen warnings while shopping at Amazon or visiting California saying: 'This product contains chemicals that can cause cancer'? Did the warning change your mind to buy the product or did you simply ignore it?
Interestingly, I have not found any assessments or surveys online that can tell us how effective these warnings are. If you find yourself not sure of how to respond to such warnings, you're not alone.
In fact, the majority of people I've spoken to have mentioned they do not know what to do with these warnings.
So, what is Proposition 65, formally titled as the Safe Drinking Water and Toxic Enforcement Act of 1986?
Proposition 65, or simply known as Prop 65, is a California state law passed in 1986 to protect Californians from chemicals that can cause cancer, birth defects, or other reproductive harm.
This law requires businesses to provide “clear and reasonable warnings” about “significant exposures” to listed chemicals administered by the California Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment.
It covers all consumer products - from food, drinks, packaging to furniture and even buildings (yes - including Disneyland!). As of December 2023, there are over 1000 chemicals in the Prop-65 list.
Is Prop 65 successful - YES and NO?!
Since its establishment in 1986, Prop 65 has successfully banned or reduced carcinogens (cancer-causing chemicals) and reproductive toxins in our products. Businesses are becoming aware of potential health risks from chemicals, and many of them are making safer products because they do not want to show the warnings on their products.
Famous cases include (potentially carcinogenic) 4-MEI coloring in Coke & Pepsi, BPA from plastic water bottles, and banning lead from lunchboxes and children’s products.
Also, Californians receive warnings about chemical exposures from products that contain or may contain Prop-65 chemicals. However, these warnings are not limited to Californians as others may see Proposition-65 warnings on products sold nationally.
If this law is so successful in reducing the exposure of hazardous chemicals from the public, why is it still being criticized as being “ineffective”?
There are layers of complexity that go underneath this issue.
What do Prop-65 warnings really mean and where do they come from?
First, the relationship between chemicals, how we can be exposed to them, and the risk of cancers and reproductive health issues is quite complex.
Let’s take the chemical, 4-MEI, that has been banned in Coke and Pepsi as an example. It is listed as a carcinogen in the Prop-65 list because high levels of this chemical can cause cancer in mice. But the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) does not associate 4-MEI with significant health risks. We should also note that we could be exposed to this chemical naturally when we roast coffee beans or cook meats at high temperature.
A chemical is added to the Prop-65 list based on research evidence that shows its potential to cause cancer, birth defects, or reproductive harm. However, it's important to note that this designation doesn't always mean that research has conclusively shown the chemical to cause cancer or reproductive harm in humans. In some cases, evidence is derived from animal studies.
Second, we should know how a chemical makes its way into the Prop-65 warnings and a threshold called, “Safe harbor levels”, which include No Significant Risk Levels for cancer-causing chemicals and Maximum Allowable Dose Levels for chemicals causing reproductive toxicity.
May Myo Myint is a Environmental Policy and Management Graduate Student at the University of California, Davis. She grew up in Myanmar, one of the most vulnerable countries against the impacts of climate change, sparking her professional interest in advancing the work of making the planet as healthy as possible.
Even if a product contains a Prop-65 chemical, if the business can prove that the exposure to a chemical from that product occurs at or below these levels, they do not need to provide a warning. How the California Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment set up the levels can be found out here.
To make a long story short, these thresholds are very stringent - for example, FDA’s daily lead limit for adults is 12.5 micrograms per day; Prop 65’s No Significant Risk Levels for lead is 15 micrograms per day, and the Maximum Allowable Dose Level is 0.5 micrograms per day. This is one of the reasons why we see Prop-65 warnings in so many products in our daily lives.
Third, we should also know that not all products with the Prop-65 warnings may actually contain the listed chemicals above the safe harbor levels.
According to the law, businesses face penalties if they fail to provide a warning when necessary, but there is no penalty for putting a warning when it's not required. This is contributing to the issue of over warning the public.
What is happening is that many small- and medium-sized companies (especially those operating on online retail platforms) may not have enough financial capacity to conduct laboratory testing on their products. In such cases, they may decide to include a warning simply to avoid any potential lawsuit.
Now that we know this, I believe we will all get a better sense of why we are flooded with Prop-65 warnings everywhere.
We see the Prop-65 warnings, but why are we not getting the message?
Though we get overwhelmed with Prop 65 warnings on so many products, are these warnings helping us to make better decisions?
The answer is: “No.” Unfortunately, many consumers are confused after reading the warnings; many feel compelled to avoid the product, while others are gradually getting used to it or beginning to ignore it completely.
First, the warnings are the same for both large and small risks. Harvard researchers have highlighted that in reality, products with small risks are significantly more common than those with large risks. When we are getting used to seeing these warnings mostly coming from the small risks, this may lead us to make a bad decision when it comes to a product with large risks.
Second, these warnings do not include specific details about the ways we might be exposed to the chemicals in the products, such as through digestion or cooking at high temperature, nor do they provide information about the potential level of exposure.
May Myo Myint is a graduate student studying and working in the area of Environmental Policy and Management at University of California, Davis. She grew up in Myanmar, one of the most vulnerable countries against the impacts of climate change, and it sparked her passion for taking a professional path to improve the health of our planet.
How to Use Proposition-65 Warning When Shopping
I would suggest not to ignore Prop-65 warnings just because there are too many of them. Obviously, the best thing to do is to avoid products that have the warning and buy the alternatives instead. But even this may not be easy sometimes.
For example, you may notice Prop-65 stickers on potato chip bags with the warning about acrylamide, which potentially causes cancer and birth defects. But acrylamide can form in many foods when they are cooked at high-temperature. That means we may not have alternatives for these delicious potatoes.
Nonetheless, we should be very careful and attentive to the warning when it comes to food, drinks, foodware, and products that we put on our skin repetitively. Especially, if we know we have some underlying health issues, we should be more cautious.
Finding guidance on navigating these warnings and chemical exposures can be tricky as well. One good resource for us to check out is FDA’s education materials.
How to Advocate for Laws like Proposition 65 in Other States
Now, it seems like the burden of interpreting the “incomplete” warnings is completely on the consumers. Still, I think Prop 65 has a very important role in keeping us aware of the risks we have as we are exposed to more and more chemicals in our daily lives. Undoubtedly, it also exerts a positive influence on businesses, encouraging them to minimize the presence of harmful chemicals in their products.
So, if you reside in states other than California and want to advocate for a similar law, below are some standard procedures to follow:
Contact state legislators and ask to sponsor right-to-know legislation.
Start or support grassroots campaigns to raise awareness of need for chemical disclosure.
Get involved with environmental or public health organizations pushing for reform.
Write letters to editors of local newspapers highlighting dangers of chemical exposures.
Share success stories and impact of Proposition 65 in California through social media.
Put public pressure on companies that use toxic chemicals by protesting and boycotting.
File petitions, sign ballots and vote to help get citizen initiatives passed.
My Final Thoughts
My final advice (and a reminder to myself) is to stay informed and to stay healthy.
Stay informed: Please don’t neglect the warnings - especially if you or your family have underlying health issues, or if you are living with kids. Let’s try to buy safer alternatives if we can. If we have to buy the products with the warnings, we should consume or use them in moderation to keep the exposure of certain chemicals within a safe daily threshold. Check the FDA website for more information about the chemicals; for example, you can read about acrylamide in potato chips here.
Stay Healthy: Most importantly, we should eat a balanced diet, stay active and stay less stressed. Exposure to chemicals is not the sole determinant of getting cancers or reproductive issues. There are many other aspects like genetics and our overall health. We should keep in mind that keeping a healthy lifestyle is a way of reducing our chance of developing such health issues.
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