Background

In November 1986, Proposition 65, the Safe Drinking Water and Toxic Enforcement Act of 1986, also known as California proposition about increasing attention to accessible toxic chemicals came into force. This proposition was then included in chapter 25249.5-25249.13 of the law of California Health and Safety Code. OEHHA updates the list of chemicals each quarter.

Main Requirement

On the 30th of October 2015 OEHHA intends to add “pentachlorophenol and by-products” into the list of CA65 hazardous substances.  OEHHA is requesting comments stakeholders have until the 30th of November 2015 to submit any comments in electronic form. After the review the results will be made available to the public. Information and control of pentachlorophenol and sodium are below.

No.	Name & Structure	CAS Number	Application	Restriction
1	Pentachlorophenol	87-86-5	Used in organic synthesis, paddy control barn yard grass and wood preservative. Widely used as fungicides, sterilization effect is high, suitable for PVC and other plastics, paints, leather, adhesives, rubber, fibre, paper, etc.	REACH Annex XVII: Forbidden in articles 0.1% / Mixture PoHS: 0.0005% / material
2	Pentachlorophenol, sodium salt	131-52-2	REACH Annex XVII: Forbidden in articles 0.1% / Mixture

Suggestion

Proposition 65 does not  itself control any specific product category the purpose is to protects the drinking water sources from being contaminated with chemicals known to cause cancer, birth defects or other reproductive harm, therefore in theory all products containing hazardous substances are within the scope of its control.
In order to reduce the risk of breaching these regulations companies are recommended to conduct a supply chain survey and perform testing if necessary.