California EPA’s Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment (OEHHA) has scheduled an April 14, 2014, public workshop to discuss “a possible regulatory action to change the existing regulation governing Proposition 65 warnings.” The Safe Drinking Water and Toxic Enforcement Act of 1986 (Prop. 65) requires manufacturers to warn consumers if their products contain any substances known to the state to cause cancer or reproductive toxicity. Failure to provide such warnings exposes manufacturers to enforcement actions filed by private entities or state prosecuting authorities and the possibility of significant fines. While the draft proposed changes hyperlinked to the meeting announcement could change before OEHHA takes any final action, they were developed on the basis of public input provided in 2013, after the agency conducted a pre-regulatory workshop, and respond to the governor’s proposal to reform Prop. 65 to, among other things, “require more useful information to the public on what they…
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California EPA’s Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment (OEHHA) has extended the comment period on its notice of intent to list beta-myrcene as known to the state to cause cancer under the Safe Drinking Water and Toxic Enforcement Act of 1986 (Prop. 65). OEHHA took the action at the request of several trade organizations, including the Flavor and Extract Manufacturers Association, North America Juice Products Association, and Renewable Citrus Products Association. The new comment deadline is March 24, 2014. OEHHA has proposed adding beta-myrcene—a natural food-plant constituent used as a flavoring agent in food and beverages—to the Prop. 65 list under the authoritative bodies listing mechanism. According to the agency, the National Toxicology Program and several other institutions have concluded that the chemical causes kidney cancer in male rats and liver cancer in male mice. See OEHHA News Release, March 4, 2014. In other OEHHA action, the Developmental and Reproductive…
A California appeals court has affirmed the dismissal of Proposition 65 (Prop. 65) lawsuits filed against fast-food restaurants by the vegetarian and animal-rights advocacy organization Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine (PCRM), finding that the organization failed to conduct the requisite investigation into the warning signs posted in the defendants’ restaurants before certifying the merit of its 60-day notices to the companies, attorney general and local prosecuting entities. PCRM v. Applebee’s Int’l, Inc., No. B243908 (Cal. Ct. App., decided February 27, 2014). At issue were warnings about the chemical PhIP, known to the state to cause cancer, created during the chicken grilling process. Details about the lower court’s ruling appear in Issue 450 of this Update. Reciting the lengthy litigation history, which involved a number of amended complaints, the court emphasized the statements that the plaintiff’s counsel made during hearings on demurrers to the pleadings and deemed them binding admissions that…
In response to requests from trade associations representing meat industry interests, California EPA’s Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment (OEHHA) has extended the comment period on its proposal to list nitrite in combination with amines or amides as known to the state to cause cancer under the Safe Drinking Water and Toxic Enforcement Act of 1986 (Prop. 65). If these substances are added to the Prop. 65 list, companies making products containing them will be required to provide warnings to California consumers. Comments are now requested by May 8, 2014. See OEHHA News Release, February 28, 2014. Meanwhile, OEHHA has also issued the agenda for the March 27, 2014, meeting of the Biomonitoring California Scientific Guidance Panel, which will convene in Oakland; the meeting will be accessible via Webinar. Program and laboratory updates are on the agenda, and the panel will also discuss chromium as a potential designated chemical and…
The World Health Organization’s (WHO’s) International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) last week published its World Cancer Report 2014, a collaborative effort providing “a professional, multidisciplinary assessment of all aspects of the geographical distribution, biology, etiology, prevention, and control of cancer.” In addition to a chapter on cancer etiology as it relates to diet, obesity and physical activity, the report’s third edition includes a section focusing on regulatory and legislative initiatives—such as the taxation of sugar sweetened beverages (SSBs)—designed to minimize behavior-related carcinogenic risk. It also features a “Perspectives” article by Harvard School of Public Health Professor Epidemiology and Nutrition Walter Willett that reviews “our current state of knowledge on diet, nutrition, and cancer.” Co-authored by Willett, the chapter on diet, obesity and physical activity warns that excess body fat “increases risk of cancers of the oesophagus, colon, pancreas, endometrium, and kidney, as well as post-menopausal breast cancer.” Singling…
Subway has reportedly announced plans to remove azodicarbonamide from its breads after a food blogger’s petition criticized the restaurant chain for including “the same chemical used to make yoga mats, shoe soles, and other rubbery objects” in its U.S. products. Owned by Doctor’s Associates Inc., Subway apparently released a media statement confirming that it had started phasing out the ingredient before FoodBabe.com’s Vani Hari launched her campaign, which garnered 60,000 signatures and sent readers to the company’s Facebook page to complain. “We are already in the process of removing azodicarbonamide as part of our bread improvement efforts despite the fact that it is a USDA [U.S. Department of Agriculture] and FDA [Food and Drug Administration] approved ingredient. The complete conversion to have this product out of the bread will be done soon,” a Subway spokesperson was quoted as saying. See Associated Press and CNN, February 6, 2014; The Independent, February…
California EPA’s Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment (OEHHA) has added diisononyl phthalate—a plasticizer used in food contact materials—to the list of chemicals known to the state to cause cancer. OEHHA’s Carcinogen Identification Committee determined that “the chemical was clearly shown, through scientifically valid testing according to generally accepted principles, to cause cancer.” The addition, made under the “state’s qualified expert” mechanism of the Safe Drinking Water and Toxic Enforcement Act of 1986 (Prop. 65), takes effect December 20, 2013. OEHHA will next set a safe exposure level for the chemical. See OEHHA News Release, December 12, 2013; Bloomberg BNA Product Safety & Liability Reporter, December 13, 2013. Issue 508
The journal Food and Chemical Toxicology has announced the retraction of a controversial study purportedly linking genetically modified organisms (GMOs) to mammary tumors in rats. Led by University of Caen Molecular Biology Professor Gilles-Éric Séralin, the November 2012 study garnered public attention for reporting that female rats fed GM maize developed more mammary tumors than a control group raised on conventional feed. After further review, however, the journal’s editor-in-chief concluded that “both the low number of animals in each study group and the particular strain selected” were cause for concern. “A more in-depth look at the raw data revealed that no definitive conclusions can be reached with this small sample size regarding the role of either NK603 or glyphosate in regards to overall mortality or tumor incidence,” notes the journal’s retraction statement. “Given the known high incidence of tumors in the Sprague-Dawley rat, normal variability cannot be excluded as the…
A recent study funded by the National Cancer Institute has allegedly linked higher intakes of sugar-sweetened beverages (SSBs) to an increased risk of type I endometrial cancer. Maki Inoue-Choi, et al., “Sugar-Sweetened Beverage Intake and the Risk of Type I and Type II Endometrial Cancer among Postmenopausal Women,” Cancer, Epidemiology, Biomarkers & Prevention, December 2013. After evaluating the dietary intake of 23,039 postmenopausal women enrolled in the Iowa Women’s Health Study, University of Minnesota researchers apparently found that compared with women who did not consume SSBs, those in the highest quintile of SSB intake had a 78 percent increased risk of developing type I endometrial cancer while those who reported at least some SSB consumption had “a statistically significant 47 [percent] higher risk.” The study’s authors also noted in a December 4, 2013, press release that “previous studies have shown increasing consumption of sugar sweetened beverages has paralleled the increase…
California EPA’s Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment (OEHHA) has issued a request for public comments on draft templates for tabulating epidemiology studies and data from animal studies for use by members of the agency’s Science Advisory Board Development and Reproductive Toxicant Identification Committee. Comments are requested by December 23, 2013. See OEHHA News Release, December 4, 2013. Meanwhile, during the December 5 meeting of OEHHA’s Carcinogen Identification Committee, diisononyl phthalate, a plasticizer used in food-contact materials, and butyl benzyl phthalate, a chemical used in food conveyor belts, were discussed as candidates for addition to the Proposition 65 list of chemicals known to the state to cause cancer. See Proposition 65 News, December 5, 2013.
