OEHHA Requests Input on Prioritizing BPA Under Prop. 65 Procedures
California EPA’s Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment (OEHHA)
has announced that its Carcinogen Identification Committee will discuss
whether 39 chemicals should be prioritized “for possible preparation of
hazard identification materials” during the committee’s October 12-13, 2011,
meeting.
While no decision will be made at this meeting about adding the chemicals
to California’s Proposition 65 (Prop. 65) list of substances known to the state
to cause cancer, the process OEHHA is following could ultimately lead to
their inclusion. Public comments on the 39 listed chemicals are requested by
September 20, 2011.
Among those chemicals under consideration is bisphenol A (BPA). According to OEHHA’s supporting materials, which include references to numerous carcinogenicity and genotoxicity studies, billions of pounds of BPA are produced each year in the United States, and most human exposure occurs “through the diet.” Other chemicals under consideration are those used in agriculture, such as the fungicides chloropicrin, dicloran, fluazinam, and thiophanate methyl. Also on the list are the insecticide flonicamid and broad spectrum antifungal agents known as triazoles, used in pesticides. N-nitroso-n-methylaniline, a chemical found in smoked meat and used in rubber manufacturing, will also be considered. See OEHHA News Release, July 22, 2011.
