Jul 22, 2009 Sacramento Bee
Styrene industry
sues to halt California Prop. 65 cancer listing
The $28 billion styrene industry has filed a lawsuit in
Sacramento Superior Court to block California environmental
officials from listing the product as a cause of cancer and birth
defects.
Judge Shellyanne W.L. Change declined last week to temporarily
stop the state's Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment
from including styrene on its Proposition 65
warning list,
but she did set an Aug. 12 hearing on why she shouldn't issue a
preliminary injunction to prevent the state from taking the
action.
A spokesman for the Styrene Information and Research Center based
in Arlington, Va., said in an interview Tuesday that the group
wants to prevent the Proposition 65 listing "mainly because
styrene isn't a carcinogen, and no regulatory or authoritative
body in the world has classified it as such."
The spokesman, Joe Walker, said the Proposition 65 warning
"would foster the potential for alarmist reports over
nothing" and "be very damaging for no good reason
because styrene has been used safely for many, many years in
thousands and thousands of products."
According to court papers filed by the state, the World Health
Organization's International Agency for Research on Cancer in
2002 concluded that styrene is "possibly carcinogenic to
humans." The federal Occupational Safety and Health
Administration said exposure to the substance "may
involve" maladies such as "headache, fatigue,
dizziness, confusion, drowsiness, malaise, difficulty in
concentrating, and a feeling of intoxication."
"From our perspective, we feel we're required by Proposition
65 as well as certain provisions of the (California) Labor Code
and some provisions of the federal OSHA hazardous communication
standards ... to list certain substances under Proposition
65," said Carol Monahan-Cummings, chief counsel for OEHHA.
Monahan-Cummings said the listing is "a ministerial
process" that relies on OSHA and "related
agencies" to provide the science that backs up the action.
OEHHA, an arm of the California Environmental Protection Agency,
announced in June that it planned to include styrene on its
Proposition 65 list. The 1986 ballot measure approved by
California voters requires businesses to list
warnings about the use of the targeted substances to protect the
public from potentially harmful exposures.
Styrene is used in food-service packaging such as egg cartons,
coffee cups and the like, as well in thousands of other products
ranging from bicycle helmets to boats, bathtubs and synthetic
marble, Walker said. The Sacramento office of the legal and
lobbying firm Greenberg Traurig LLP filed court papers on behalf
of the industry that said its products are sold in a "highly
competitive" marketplace. Including styrene on the
Proposition 65 list, the attorneys said, would lead consumers to
abandon styrene-based products in favor of other substances.
"As soon as California lists styrene as a 'known
carcinogen,' SIRC and its members will be vulnerable to false
claims that their products are dangerous to their employees and
their customers," the industry's lawyers argued in their
court papers. "News media looking for an alarming headline
and organizations promoting themselves as advisers on 'green
living' or 'environmental watchdogs' will claim there is a 'known
carcinogen' in take-out food containers, bike helmets, egg
cartons and berry baskets ... Styrene will permanently lose
public confidence and market share."
A legal response filed by the state attorney general's office
said the "balance of harm" favors the listing and that
the industry's argument that it would be stigmatized by the
Proposition 65 warning "is complete speculation."
"If the court delays the listing of styrene under
Proposition 65, and ultimately it is found that styrene is known
to the state to cause cancer and must be listed, there will be a
delay in providing information to the public," the state's
lawyers said. "That delay has the potential for causing
significant harm to human health and the environment."
Proposition 65, the Safe Drinking Water and Toxic Enforcement Act of 1986, was enacted as a ballot initiative in November 1986. The Proposition was intended by its authors to protect California citizens and the State's drinking water sources from chemicals known to cause cancer, birth defects or other reproductive harm, and to inform citizens about exposures to such chemicals.
Proposition 65 requires the Governor to publish, at least annually, a list of chemicals known to the state to cause cancer or reproductive toxicity.
カリフォルニア州法1986年安全飲料水および有害物質施行法（Proposition 65）
規制概要：鉛、カドミウム、六価クロム含む750種類の癌または生殖機能障害を引き起こす恐れのある化学物質がリストされており、規制値を超えるProposition 65 の指定物質が含有された製品に警告表示が義務付けられている。当該表示は製品上もしくはカートンもしくは製品の取扱説明書上に記載しなければならない。
警告表示例：“WARNING”: This product contains chemicals
known to State of California to cause (cancer, and) birth defects
or other reproductive harm. Wash hand after handling.”（California low requires this
warning to be customers in the state of Californja）
この製品カリフォルニア州当局より、癌、出産及び生殖機能障害を引き起こす恐れのある化学物質である鉛を含有しています。使用後は手を洗って下さい。
罰則規定：法令違反製品は１台／日に対し、＄２５００の罰金が課される。
例：１０００台で１０日間の場合、1000 ×１０×2500 =＄250万
Proposition 65訴訟問題と和解協定
・2000年4月－U.S.A法律事務所（MateelEnvironment Justice
Foundationが原告）より日本を含むEU、U.S.Aのメーカー約１００社に対し、
規制値を超えるProposition
65 の指定化学物質が含有されている製品が警告表示なしで販売されている旨の警告が提示された。
警告対象製品：PVCケーブル（External wires and cables coated with PVC)
・2002年3月：警告された企業側は企業連合を結成、対応窓口を一本化、和解案を作成。
和解案：2003年9月3日生産分（最終製品の）からの製品について、鉛の基準値、300ppm以上含有するPVCケーブルを内蔵する場合は、警告表示をする。
対象物質：鉛
対象となる鉛含有量：コードの外皮に意図的な添加がなく、含有量が300ppmを超えない。
対象製品：『Non-Exempt
Product List 』にリストアップされている製品（69項目）
例）Hair Dryer,
Computer Mouse Cord, Portable DVD Player,Portable TV, Extension
Cords, Laptop computer Cord,Video Game Accessories, etc.
警告表示対象外製品：和解協定に参画した企業に限り、下記製品は警告表示から免除される。
●コードの外皮に鉛が意図的な添加がなく、鉛含有量が３００ｐｐｍを超えない。但し、2重被覆の場合は、外皮が300ppm以下であれば、内皮は300ppmを超えてもよい。
●据え置きタイプ機器（例：TV、Audio,DVD,Video機器）で、頻繁にコードに触れない場合
●カリフォルニア州以外に配送、販売する場合
●製品の使用中にコード、ケーブル、ワイア類が外部に露出しない場合
対象部位：コード＆ケーブル類
含有量測定方法：ICP法、EPA Method 7240 （前処理：EPA Method 160.4 or 3050）
警告表示内容：〝WARNING : This product contains
chemicals, including lead, known to the State of California to
cause （cancer, and）birth defects or other
reproductive harm. Wash hands after handling
〝この製品はカリフォルニア州当局より、（癌や）出産障害、生殖障害などを引き起こす化学物質であるところの鉛を含有しています。使用した後は手を洗って下さい。
警告表示方法：（1）製品もしくは梱包箱にラベルを貼るか印刷すること。(2) 操作が難しい製品でユーザーが必ず取扱説明書をみる場合、その取説上に表示しても良い。（3）ネット販売品の場合はカリフォルニア州からアクセス出来るWebsite全てに表示すること。（4）ダイレクト販売の場合は、製品のInvoiceに表示すること。