During confirmation hearings before Congress last week, Acting EPA Administrator Andrew Wheeler indicated that a long-awaited EPA rule to restrict consumer and commercial uses of methylene chloride as a paint and coating remover has been delayed by the government shutdown,
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California Set to Finalize Prop 65 Coffee Exemption
By Joseph Green on
Posted in Prop 65, Uncategorized
The California Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment (OEHHA), which oversees the state’s Proposition 65 program, is on the verge of finalizing an exemption from warning requirements for chemicals, such as acrylamide, “created by and inherent in the processes of…
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Prop 65 Plaintiffs Ring In New Year with Aggressive Enforcement
By Joseph Green on
Posted in Prop 65
Proposition 65 plaintiff groups are starting 2019 with a practically unprecedented bounty of enforcement actions underway. According to information available from the California Attorney General’s Prop 65 website, almost 2,000 60-Day Notices of Violation have been filed since April 2018…
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Enviro Groups May Have Christmas Lump of Coal for EPA: Set to Sue on EPA Decision Not to Develop New “SPCC” Program for Spills of Hazardous Substances
By Joseph Green on
Environmental groups have filed a Notice of Intent to sue the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) over its still draft decision not to establish a program to address potential spills of hazardous substances similar to the existing “Spill Prevention, Countermeasure…
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California OEHHA Extends Investigation of Synthetic Food Dyes
By Joseph Green on
Posted in Chemicals
At the direction of the California Legislature, the Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment (OEHHA) is conducting a risk assessment of the potential adverse health impacts of synthetic food dyes on children, with a focus on neurobehavioral and other neurologic…
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California Seeks Clarity on Retailer/Supply Chain Prop 65 Warning Provisions
By Joseph Green on
Posted in Prop 65
Only a few months after new provisions went into effect (on August 30th), California’s Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment (OEHHA) is proposing to clarify the rules governing retailer and supply chain responsibility for providing warnings under Proposition 65. These…
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Black Friday and Prop 65
By Joseph Green on
With the biggest sales day of the year shortly upon us, a new wave of on-line shopping Americans likely will see Proposition 65 warning notices for the first time. Though California’s notorious program technically only applies within the state’s borders,…
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Midterm Elections Signal Increase in TSCA Oversight
By Joseph Green on
With Democrats now in control of the House, Congressional oversight of EPA’s implementation of the 2016 amendments to the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA) is set to ramp up. The expected incoming chair of the House Energy & Commerce Committee,…
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California Limits New Prop 65 Listing to Soluble Nickel Compounds
By Joseph Green on
Posted in Prop 65
California has added a new chemical to the list of substances known to the state to cause reproductive toxicity under Proposition 65, though the listing is not as broad as originally proposed. While the Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment…
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Could Federal Legislation Save Proposition 65?
By Joseph Green on
Posted in Uncategorized
Recent events have raised questions about the viability and utility of California’s infamous Proposition 65. The past few months have seen courts reject the listing of glyphosate as a “known” carcinogen on First Amendment grounds and rule that federal nutrition…
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