Overview
Inside EPA quoted Steptoe's Chris Amantea and Carol Brophy in an article titled "Lawyers Warn Companies On Global Impacts Of California Prop. 65 Rules." The article, published August 20, discusses how industry lawyers are warning companies around the world that they could be impacted by a revised set of California Proposition 65 warning requirements that take effect August 30, including provisions that are expected to shift large cost impacts and liability from retailers to upstream manufacturers and distributors of a host of consumer products.
During a July 24 webinar, co-sponsored by Chemical Watch, Amantea said that "it becomes abundantly clear that there are a lot of complications and nuances associated with these new regulations; many of them will probably remain to be decided by the courts at some point in the future."
Brophy said: "You should be thinking that Proposition 65 is more than just a law that requires warnings to be given. It is a hook, it is a mechanism by which California intends, and deliberately wants to push its ideas about chemical regulation up the chain of commerce to change the activities and the conduct of people that are manufacturing products worldwide."
The full article can be read at Inside EPA (subscription required).