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The Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment (OEHHA) is
responsible for the implementation of the Safe Drinking Water and
Toxic Enforcement Act of 1986 (Proposition 65). Under the statutes,
a chemical may be identified as "known to the State to cause
cancer" based on the rendering of an opinion by the OEHHA Science
Advisory Board's Carcinogen Identification Committee (CIC) that
a chemical has been clearly shown, through scientifically valid
testing according to generally accepted principles, to cause cancer,
or identified through either of two administrative listing processes.
In order to implement the statutes, OEHHA developed a database for
chemicals that have been nominated or suggested for consideration
under Proposition 65. The database contains several hundred entries
based on information taken from the scientific literature (including
published lists and databases), nominations from members of OEHHA's
Science Advisory Board, other state agencies, the scientific community,
and the general public. The basis for nominations to the database
may be, for example, positive animal cancer bioassays, epidemiological
studies, structural and biological activity similar to known carcinogens,
or genotoxicity. The database contains chemicals with widely varying
degrees of toxicity, production, use, and exposure information.
To enhance the quality of the database, the chemicals are tracked
and their toxicity data updated as new information becomes available.
For the pilot random selection, OEHHA conducted an initial screen
of the database for chemicals with toxicity information entered
into the toxicity field of the data entry sheet. Eighty-five chemicals
were identified that could potentially be considered by Science
Advisory Board. Because OEHHA typically organizes its workloads
into batches or groups of 10 to 20 chemicals, we randomly selected
from the file of 85 chemicals three sequential batches of 10 chemicals
each. Each chemical in the batch of 10 will receive a screening
toxicity evaluation as described in the document entitled Procedure
for Prioritizing Candidate Chemicals for Consideration Under Proposition
65 by the "States Qualified Experts."
The screening toxicity evaluations are based on a brief review
of the readily available toxicological information (e.g., scientific
reviews and other secondary literature) and reported in a data summary.
The draft data summaries and draft priority rankings are released
for scientific review and public comment, including a public workshop.
Chemicals receiving a final ranking as a "high" priority
will be considered first by the CIC. Chemicals not ranked as "high"
will be returned to the data base and continue to be tracked and
updated. Typically, these chemicals would not go before the CIC
unless new and significant information becomes available that would
change the relative ranking or until after all other chemicals assigned
a high priority in database have been brought before the CIC. To
facilitate the Committee's consideration, hazard identification
documents (HIDs) are prepared that summarize the scientific evidence
on the carcinogenicity of the chemical, typically taken from the
primary literature (i.e., original scientific articles). Initially,
HIDs will only be prepared for those chemicals that are ranked as
"high" priority.
For the pilot random selection process, OEHHA developed a series
of 500 randomly generated numbers shown in Table 2 using Microsoft
Excel. On August 4, 1997, OEHHA inserted the 85 alphabetically arranged
chemicals shown in Table 1 into Table 2 to determine a numerical
reordering of the 85 chemicals. This resulted in a "shuffling"
of the alphabetical list. The relative position where the alphabetical
listing in Table 1 was inserted into the series of random numbers
in Table 2 was based on the sum of the first three Super Lotto numbers
drawn on Saturday, August 2, 1997.
Using the sum of the first three numbers (31, 2, 50) drawn from
the California Super Lotto on August 2, 1997, the seed number for
the first round pilot random selection is 83. Beginning with the
83rd number (190) and ending with the 167th number (234) on Table
2, each of these 85 chemicals had a unique random numerical value
assigned it. These 85 assigned random numbers, and corresponding
chemicals, were reordered according to increasing value. The lowest
10 numerical values will constitute the chemicals in the first batch
(RS-1), the next 10 lowest numbers the second batch (RS-2), and
the next 10 lowest numbers the third batch (RS-3). The results of
the random selection and assignment of chemicals to each of the
three batches are found on Table A: Pilot-First
Round Randomly Selected Candidates on OEHHA's Home Page. The
remaining 55 chemicals will be returned to the random selection
file and combined with the results of the next screening of the
data base. OEHHA anticipates similar screenings and random selections
at 3- to 4-month intervals.
OEHHA is committed to an open and public process in the implementation
of Proposition 65. The posting of the initial alphabetical listing
in Table 1, the list of random numbers in Table 2, and the results
of the random selection in Table A and prioritization of chemicals
for consideration by the CIC is part of that process.
For inquiries related to Table 1, Table 2 and Table A please call
or write to:
Dr. Lauren Zeise, Chief
Reproductive & Cancer Hazard
Assessment Section, OEHHA
1515 Clay St 16th Floor
Oakland, CA, 94612
(510) 622-3170
(510) 622-3218 FAX
For inquiries on Proposition 65, please call or write to:
Cynthia Oshita
Proposition 65 Implementation
OEHHA
Post Office Box 4010
Sacramento, CA 95812-4010
(916) 445-6900
View Table A - Results of First Round Pilot
Random Selection of Chemicals Eligible for Prioritization for Consideration
of Carcinogenicity Evaluation August 5, 1997
Note - If you have trouble viewing or printing the list below,
please download the PDF version.
You will need the free program Adobe Acrobat Reader to view or
print PDF files 
For questions regarding Proposition 65, please contact the Cynthia
Oshita in the Proposition 65 Implementation Program
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