OEHHA Announces Meeting to Discuss BPA Listing Under Prop. 65

The California Environmental Protection Agency’s Office of Environmental
Health Hazard Assessment (OEHHA) has announced a May 7, 2015, meeting
of its Developmental and Reproductive Toxicant Identification Committee
(DARTIC) to consider the addition of bisphenol A (BPA) to the list of chemicals
known to the state to cause reproductive toxicity. Citing the availability of
new epidemiological and toxicological data, DARTIC will assess “whether BPA
has been clearly shown by scientifically valid testing according to generally
accepted principles to cause female reproductive toxicity.” OEHHA has also
made available hazard identification materials on BPA and female reproductive
toxicity and requested public comments by April 6, 2015.

After adding BPA to the list of reproductive toxicants under the Safe Drinking
Water and Toxic Enforcement Act of 1986 (Prop. 65) in April 2013, OEHHA
delisted the substance following a court injunction. In January 2015, the court
ruled that the agency could list BPA under Prop. 65 even if DARTIC did not
include the substance on its own list, finding that “OEHHA is mandated by
law to list a chemical even after the state’s qualified experts have declined to
do so if the chemical meets one of the other listing requirements.” Additional
details about the matter appear in Issue 550 of this Update.

Issue 556