Citizens Helping California

Citizens Helping California (CHC) has helped many companies with Prop 65 in California. CHC has a team of volunteers that have reviewed the product and science to help companies make decisions about their Product for Prop 65.

According to Tera Ludar, one of Citizens Helping California's volunteers, "It is a business decision to determine if a Prop 65 label is required on their product or not. It is a common confusion that companies believe that just because their product contains a listed chemical that a Prop 65 labels is required, but a Prop 65 label is only required if exposure to a listed chemical is above a certain level. OEHHA, the State agency, has created Save Harbor Levels,  Maximum Allowable Dose Level (MADL) for Reproductive Harm or No Significant Risk Level (NSLR) for Cancer, that companies can use to help them determine if their product requires a Prop 65 label. Prop 65 labels are not required if product results in exposure that is below the Safe Harbor Levels. In addition, companies can use science to determine if a Prop 65 label is required. If the chemical does not cause Cancer or Reproductive Harm in humans, then no Prop 65 label is required."

Some products require testing and exposure assessments and others you can look at science to determine if a Prop 65 label is required or not. For example, Tera Ludar found that companies can use science to determine if a Prop 65 label is required for the chemical DEHP. She explains that "According to the No.149, 2016 Danish EPA Determination of Migration Rates for Certain Phthalates, it states "Surprisingly there does not seem to be a readily correlation between the concentration of phthalates in the products and the migration rates of the phthalates... The analytical methods to determine the migration of phthalates are therefore divided into three categories: mild, medium and harsh conditions." Since the Danish EPA is clear that there is no correlation to the amount of DEHP that it is inside the product (PPM or %) to the amount that migrates out of the product causing potential exposure (ug/day), the amount that migrates out of the product can be assumed to be based on conditions and not content (PPM or %). The Danish EPA set migration rates that are estimated based on the type of user of the product and one can use this to determine if a Prop 65 label is required. OEHHA created a Safe Use Determination that is based on DEHP, companies can use along with the migration rates from the Danish EPA as a guide to do an exposure assessment to determine if their product requires a Prop 65 label or not without any testing. Companies can also hire a toxicologist to help in the decision making process."

Tera Ludar goes onto say "as it relates to DEHP a Prop 65 cancer label is not required if the business can show that the exposure poses no significant risk of causing cancer in humans. Baxter Healthcare Corporation demonstrated how exposure levels to DEHP causes liver cancer in rats and mice; the science shows that the biological mechanism by which this occurs does not occur in humans; and, therefore, it is more probable than not that exposure to DEHP does not pose a significant risk of cancer to humans and no DEHP warning was required on their product. This could be true for all Companies."

Citizens Helping California have helped many companies with Prop 65 and has a goal to make sure that Prop 65 labels are accurate and truthful in California.