In the past, we have talked slightly mockingly about California’s Prop 65, passed in 1986. It’s a law that forces companies to disclose the presence of cancerous chemicals. And it’s a good law! But, the warning plaques are so common that they can feel meaningless in our everyday lives. However, it turns out that Prop 65 has had a meaningful, beneficial impact.
The law states that companies must warn people if there is a potentially harmful amount of one or more of about 900 dangerous chemicals in their products. Despite being a law for almost 40 years, no one has researched how effective the warnings were. Scientists at Silent Spring Institute took a look. They found that the warnings might not have changed how consumers react, but what manufacturers put in their goods has changed.
“What we found was that companies, rather than consumers, may be most affected by the law’s warning requirements,” said lead author Dr. Jennifer Ohayon. “By increasing businesses’ awareness of chemicals in the supply chain, Prop 65 has caused them to shift away from using toxic substances, and that’s a positive step for public health.”
It makes sense that manufacturers wouldn’t want to have to put a warning label on something they are selling. While people might laugh at the label, many consumers would pick an option without dangerous chemicals if they had a choice of products.
The team interviewed 32 business leaders from major global manufacturers. Their interviews showed that 78 percent of the businesses had reformulated products to remove chemicals. Additionally, 81 percent said they looked at Prop 65 when formulating products or purchasing raw materials to make new products. The changes go beyond California; 63 percent said Prop 65 had caused them to reformulate things sold outside the state.
While companies could lower the amount of the offending chemicals to be below the allowed threshold, they mostly opted to remove them altogether. “What’s interesting is that companies consistently told us they would rather eliminate a Prop 65 chemical altogether than post a warning,” said co-author Dr. Meg Schwarzman of the UC Berkeley School of Public Health. “By doing that, they avoid the threat of litigation, but they also reduce the risk to consumers and workers using the products.”
Silent Spring and UC Berkeley also looked at the levels of some chemicals in people’s blood before and after Prop 65 went into effect. The levels went down in people inside the state and nationally.
It makes sense that companies would change their formulas nationally. Economically, there is no benefit to having to buy separate ingredients, have separate manufacturing runs, and have different packaging for different markets in the same country. It’s great to see that the law is making a difference.
The products range from cleaning supplies to cosmetics. They are everyday things that we all come in contact with that no one should have to worry over.
As people living in California, we will probably always laugh when we see Prop 65 Warning signs telling us that an open-air parking lot contains cancerous chemicals. However, knowing that it has changed manufacturing to benefit us is excellent; that is a healthy step forward. If the products we buy are safer, to begin with, that takes one step out of the process.
As Dr. Schwarzman put it, “This is so much bigger than the individual consumer and what we choose off the shelf.”
