Given the recent lawsuit filed against Lumber Liquidators that alleged its laminate flooring formaldehyde levels exceeded the levels stipulated in California's Proposition 65, a refresher about Proposition 65 may be helpful.
Currently, California is the only state to have a law requiring reasonable warnings be posted on products that may contain chemicals hazardous to human health. But the National Wood Flooring Association has told its members to be alert for expansion into other states as well.
Within Proposition 65, the provisions that apply to wood flooring producers include the following:
*§ 25603 Consumer Products Warnings*
(c) A person in the course of doing business, who manufactures, produces, assembles, processes, handles, distributes, stores, sells, or otherwise transfers a consumer product which he or she knows to contain a chemical known to the state to cause cancer or reproductive toxicity in an amount that requires a warning shall provide a warning to any person to whom the product is sold or transferred unless the product is packaged or labeled with a clear and reasonable warning.
*§ 25603.2 Consumer Products Exposure Warnings – Content *
(a) The warning message must include the following language:
1. For consumer products that contain a chemical known to the state to cause cancer:
"WARNING: This product contains a chemical known to the State of California to cause cancer."
2. For consumer products that contain a chemical known to the state to cause reproductive toxicity:
"WARNING: This product contains a chemical known to the State of California to cause birth defects or other reproductive harm."
Click here to view a PDF list of chemicals and their allowable thresholds regulated by Proposition 65.
