American Council on Science and Health Study Claims that Prop 65 is "Misdirected"

In a December 2000 press release, the American Council on Science and Health (ACSH) stated that a study found Prop 65 failed to meet its stated intent of informing consumers about exposures to dangerous chemicals.

"Regrettably, Prop65 does not focus on known risk factors for human cancer or reproductive toxicity. Instead, it relies on lists of chemicals—information on many of whose negative health effects is based on high-dose animal tests and is not directly relevant to typical human exposures.

Prop65 is essentially a "right-to-know" law that seeks to provide consumers with information. The law makes no provision, however, for educating the public about the risks of exposure to the listed chemicals, nor does it distinguish between the level of hazard or risk associated with different chemicals. Thus, a substance that is minimally toxic or carcinogenic will carry essentially the same warning as one that poses a much greater risk."

"According to Dr. Elizabeth Whelan, president of the American Council on Science and Health, 'The public should be informed that a risk to health depends on both the degree of hazard as well as the degree of exposure to any potentially toxic substance. Brief exposures to trace levels of environmental chemicals are extremely unlikely to pose a real health risk. Prop65 masks this fact by its failure to assess and communicate risk reasonably.' "

The Executive Summary is available online, and the entire report is available for download by pdf.