A Warning about Warnings: Understanding Prop 65 Labels

At our clinic, patients trust us to provide top-quality Chinese Medicine prescriptions, from whole herb to patent pill formulas. However, you may have noticed that many of these products come with a Proposition 65 warning label. This label, mandated by California's Safe Drinking Water and Toxic Enforcement Act of 1986—better known as Prop 65—requires our suppliers to warn consumers about the potential presence of chemicals known to the state of California to cause cancer, birth defects, or other reproductive harm. Despite this intimidating label, I want to assure you that the medicines we prescribe are carefully selected for safety and efficacy. Our selection process is rigorous: we only source from small businesses that make efforts to use organic, sustainable ingredients whenever possible, and we choose products that are not only recommended by practitioners (oftentimes from personal use) but have also demonstrated favorable results. Our priority is your well-being, and we are diligent in ensuring that the treatments we offer not only meet but exceed our highest standards of quality and safety.

As a new resident of California in 2002, I remember the panic I felt when first reading a sign on the wall that said: “chemicals in this area are known to cause cancer and birth defects or other reproductive harm.” “Oh my God!” I thought. “What’s in this garage? And what about the poor parking attendant sitting here day after day?!”

That sign was my introduction to ‘Prop 65’ more formally known as the Safe Drinking Water and Toxic Enforcement Act of 1986. Originally conceived in response to the discovery of dangerous chemicals in California’s drinking water, such as hexavalent Chromium 6, made famous by environmental activist Erin Brockovich, application of the legislation has grown immensely in the three decades since it was passed, from an original 235 chemicals to over 900. Great, right? Unfortunately the wide net of the proposition has had unintended consequences, including the appearance of Prop 65 ‘warnings’ on many of the products we carry at Energy Matters. Yikes! Why do your herbs or supplements from our pharmacy have a scary sticker about toxic chemicals?

For most of the regulated 900 chemicals, which include many naturally occurring substances, the levels that are used for deciding if a product needs to be labeled under Prop 65 regulations (which are unique to California) are incredibly low, meant to indicate the presence of the substance, not a dangerous level (SOURCE)  Many vegetables and fruits would require labeling under Prop 65, due to naturally occurring miniscule levels of heavy metals found in foods grown on uncontaminated soils. At Energy Matters, we sell products made by companies that we have determined are conscientious and meticulous about quality control, including third party testing and other measures to ensure that products we sell are as safe and effective as possible. Consumer safety is not the purpose of Prop 65 labeling.

Although initially a big win for the people of California against corporations needlessly including highly toxic chemicals in their products and contaminating groundwater, after the first flurry of compliance, the increasing scope of the legislation has led to stickers on just about every consumer product, making it impossible to know whether something is actually dangerous or not in real life.

“The Prop 65 label is like a noisy alarm that rings equally loudly about smaller amounts of low-risk substances and huge amounts of potentially harmful chemicals… the Prop 65 label tends to equalize risk in a way that actually might actively harm people’s ability to judge danger.” - The New York Times (SOURCE)

The problem has been exacerbated by a few law firms who saw a lucrative business opportunity in chasing after small companies and suing them for not complying with Prop 65. Since virtually every consumer product including food, clothing, household items and furniture violates Prop 65 levels, the companies settle, add the sticker, and the law firms pocket a tidy settlement. (SOURCE)

Personally, I find the most frustrating part of Prop 65 labels to be their uselessness in removing actual dangerous chemicals from our environment. California continues to have drinking water contaminated with “forever chemicals,” (SOURCE) and parking garage attendants and the rest of us still breathe polluted air (SOURCE). A ‘warning’ which places the onus on the public to somehow avoid breathing air or drinking water is not the same thing as outlawing dangerous chemicals and holding companies accountable for cleaning up and eliminating these toxins.