What is the reason behind California cancer warning labels? Literally everything seems to be causing cancer. I just bought a few s2s maple boards from a local lumber supplier and each one had a sticker saying it’s known to the State of California to cause cancer. A maple board? There’s no treatment or paint on it. It’s just a milled and poorly planed piece of lumber.
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I can answer this a little more fully.
Prop 65 is the CA state ruling that requires suppliers to either attest that their product does not contain one of a myriad of compounds known to be bad for us.
It closely follows the European REACH legislation, with roots founded in the 50s and 60s when the chemical industry was growing rapidly and industry didn’t understand the side effect on humans.
It’s intent is to drive industry to find alternatives in manufacturing, often giving years of warning before something hits the books into law.
Is it costly to industry? Yes. Does it make us a healthier nation? Yes. Due to prop 75 we no longer have pthalates in flexible plastics, a very good thing.
When industry cannot or won’t find alternatives, they have to label their products with a prop 65 label. Nobody really wants to do this, hence a drive to comply since CA is a huge (largest US?) market.
I cannot speak to companies labeling everything just in case. In my experience we worked hard to avoid labeling and meeting requirements.
Source, worked in global procurement in plastics/chemicals/construction industries.
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