During the course of 2016, the California Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment (OEHHA) has added 16 new chemicals to the Proposition 65 List.  Companies doing business in California must provide Prop 65 warnings for all listed products starting one year after the date a chemical is listed.

The most controversial addition in 2016 involved styrene, a common chemical used to make latex, synthetic rubber and polystyrene resins, which are used to make plastic packaging, disposable containers and insulation. Other notable additions were furfuryl alcohol, an organic solvent used in textile printing and as an ingredient in alkaline paint strippers and other chemical products, and tetrachlorvinphos, an insecticide frequently used in flea and tick products for pets.

The 16 new chemicals and the dates they were added to the Prop 65 list in 2016 are as follows:

Fungicides, Herbicides, Insecticides and Related Breakdown Chemicals

• Malathion, listed May 20, 2016
• Parathion cancer 56-38-2, listed May 20, 2016
• Tetrachlorvinphos, listed May 20, 2016
• Sedaxane, listed July 1, 2016
• Atrazine developmental, listed July 15, 2016
• Des-ethyl atrazine (DEA), listed July 15, 2016
• Des-isopropyl atrazine (DIA), listed July 15, 2016
• 2,4-Diamino-6-chloro-s-triazin (DACT), listed July 15, 2016
• Propazine, listed July 15, 2016
• Simazine, listed July 15, 2016
• Pentachlorophenol and byproducts of its synthesis (complex mixture), listed Oct. 21, 2016

Solvents and Other Chemicals

• Abiraterone acetate (chemotherapy drug), listed April 8, 2016
• Styrene, listed April 22, 2016
• Bromodichloroacetic acid, listed July 29, 2016
• 1-Bromopropane (1-BP), listed Aug. 5, 2016
• Furfuryl alcohol, listed Sept. 30, 2016