The California Environmental Protection Agency's Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment (OEHHA) now provides information on the status of chemicals it is considering for addition to the state's Proposition 65 list under the authoritative bodies mechanism. The information includes the chemicals under consideration and the anticipated dates by which OEHHA is anticipated to make a decision on whether to list the substances under Proposition 65 and is included in an Authoritative Bodies Tracking Table on OEHHA's website.
Proposition 65, also known as the Safe Drinking Water and Toxic Enforcement Act of 1986, requires the governor of California to publish, at least annually, a list of chemicals "known to the State to cause cancer or reproductive toxicity." There are four mechanisms for listing chemicals. Under the authoritative bodies mechanism, a chemical must be listed if it is formally identified as a carcinogen or reproductive toxicant by a body considered authoritative under Proposition 65.
Among the chemicals identified in the tracking table are styrene, ethylene glycol, and nitrites. Styrene is under consideration for listing as a carcinogen based on the National Toxicology Program's (NTP) 12th Report on Carcinogens, published June 10, 2011. A decision on whether to issue a Notice of Intent (NOI) to List is expected by February 2015. Ethylene glycol is under consideration as a developmental toxicant based on NTP's Center for the Evaluation of Risks to Human Reproduction 2004 Monograph on the Potential Human Reproductive Effects of Ethylene Glycol, with a decision on whether to list is expected by August 2014. Nitrite in combination with amines or amides is under consideration for listing as a carcinogen based on the World Health Organization's International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) Monographs on the Evaluation of Carcinogenic Risks to Human, Volume 94 (2010). An NOI to list nitrites would be expected by February 2014.