California Issues Prop 65 Crystalline Silica Safe Use Determination: Four Woodwise products not required to warn for exposure

Prop 65 Counsel: What To Know

California Issues Prop 65 Crystalline Silica Safe Use Determination: Four Woodwise products not required to warn for exposure

Chemical Watch

California’s Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment has issued a Proposition 65 safe use determination (SUD) for exposures to crystalline silica from four specific wood filler products.

This determination relates to four Woodwise products, designed for use on hardwood floors, that contain crystalline silica in small amounts.

San Francisco Chronicle

California requires Proposition 65 cancer warnings on hundreds of products, ranging from tobacco and gasoline to beer and french fries. But there are no warnings on processed meats, like hot dogs, corned beef and bacon, despite an international agency’s findings in 2015 that those foods cause cancer in humans.

A doctors’ group is going to court Wednesday to try to cure that omission.

Mesothelioma.net

With new mesothelioma and ovarian cancers being filed every day against Johnson & Johnson and other talc product manufacturers, a new legal attack has been launched under California’s Prop65 law. A lawsuit has been filed accusing Johnson & Johnson, the maker of Gold Bond talc powder, manufacturers of generic talc products and retailers of failing to warn consumers of the cancer risk their products posed.

Issuance of Safe Use Determination for Exposures to Crystalline Silica From The Use of Four WOODWISE® Products

The California Environmental Protection Agency’s Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment (OEHHA) is the lead agency for the implementation of the Safe Drinking Water and Toxic Enforcement Act of 1986[1]. OEHHA received a request for a Safe Use Determination (SUD) for exposures to crystalline silica[2] in four WOODWISE® wood filler products. The request was made by Design Hardwood Products, Inc. (DHPI), pursuant to Title 27 of the California Code of Regulations, section 25204(b)(3).

The only products covered by the request are the following Woodwise® wood filler products, designed for use on hardwood floors, with crystalline silica content as specified:

Full-Trowel Filler: Designed to spread across the surface of a wood floor and fill any cracks, gaps, or voids in the surface. This product contains no more than 0.6% total crystalline silica, and 0.2% respirable crystalline silica by weight.
Wood Patch: Designed for spot-filling of a wood floor surface, but can be diluted with water and used similarly to the full-trowel filler product. This product contains no more than 0.6% total crystalline silica and 0.2% respirable crystalline silica by weight.
Pre-Finish Filler: Designed to fill cracks, nail holes, gouges, and broken edges on pre-finished floors, but can be applied to any wood floor. This product contains no more than 2.0% total crystalline silica and 0.2% respirable crystalline silica by weight.
No Shrink Patch-Quick: Designed to fill large voids in the surface of a wood floor (e.g., knot holes). This product contains no more than 0.6% total crystalline silica and 0.2% respirable crystalline silica by weight.

California Adds THC to Prop 65 List

California’s Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment recently added Δ9-tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) and “cannabis (marijuana) smoke” to the list of chemicals known to the state of California to cause reproductive toxicity, with an effective date of January 3, 2020.

California’s Safe Drinking Water and Toxic Enforcement Act of 1986, more frequently referred to as Prop 65, requires businesses whose products reach California consumers to notify consumers about the presence of certain harmful chemicals in consumer products. Companies have one year after a chemical is listed—in this case until January 3, 2021—to determine if warnings are required for their products and, if so, to post a proper warning (e.g., on the product label, a website, and/or a shelf sign).