On January 8, 2021, the California Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment (OEHHA) issued a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking with respect to Article 6, Title 27 of the California Code of Regulations, which adopt Proposition 65’s safe harbor warning methods and content. The proposed amendments  apply specifically to the short form warning, and would limit the use of the short form warning to labels with a total surface area available for consumer information of 5 square inches or less and a package shape or size that cannot accommodate the full-length warning. The proposed amendments would also change the safe harbor language from “Cancer” or “Reproductive Harm” to “Cancer Risk from [Name of one or more chemicals known to cause cancer] Exposure” or “Risk of Reproductive Harm From [Name of one or more chemicals known to cause reproductive toxicity] Exposure”. For food product labels, the proposed amendments enact the same content changes (with the exception of the food-specific Prop 65 website address), but also add that the warning must be set off from other surrounding information and enclosed in a box. These changes would become effective one year after the effective date of the amendments. Public comments on the proposed amendments may be submitted electronically no later than March 8, 2021. A public hearing will only be held upon request, which can be made via email by February 22, 2021.

The Notice of Proposed Rulemaking can be found here. For questions, contact Steve O’Day or Vickie Rusek.