The California Environmental Protection Agency’s Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment (OEHHA) is the lead agency for the implementation of the Safe Drinking Water and Toxic Enforcement Act of 1986 (Proposition 65; Health and Safety Code Section 25249.5 et seq.). The Carcinogen Identification Committee (Committee) of OEHHA’s Science Advisory Board provides advice on the list of chemicals known to the State to cause cancer. Among its duties, as set forth in Section 12305 of Title 22 of the California Code of Regulations (22 CCR), the Committee has the authority to designate bodies that it considers to be authoritative in the identification of carcinogens. Additionally, the Committee has "the authority to revoke or rescind any determination that a body is authoritative on the grounds that the ... Committee no longer considers the body to have expertise in the identification of chemicals as causing ...cancer..." (22 CCR, Section 12306(b)). The existing authoritative bodies are: the US Environmental Protection Agency, US Food and Drug Administration, International Agency for Research on Cancer, National Toxicology Program, and National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health.

On June 11, 1998, OEHHA held a public workshop to discuss issues related to the implementation of the authoritative bodies mechanism for listing chemicals under Proposition 65. (A public notice of the workshop was published in the May 1, 1998 issue of the California Regulatory Notice Register and posted on the OEHHA Web site, www.oehha.ca.gov) Members of the Committee participated in the workshop. A public meeting of the Committee to discuss the existing and potential authoritative bodies designations has now been scheduled. The meeting will be held on September 25, 1998 at 1515 Clay Street, Elihu Harris State Building Auditorium, Oakland, California from 10:00 a.m. until all business has been conducted, or until 5:00 p.m. A similar meeting of the Developmental and Reproductive Toxicant Identification Committee, the state’s qualified experts for Proposition 65 in the area of reproductive toxicity, was held on July 27, 1998.

The agenda for this meeting will be devoted to the discussion of the existing or potential authoritative bodies with respect to their expertise in the identification of chemicals causing cancer. The Committee may in the course of the meeting:

• rescind the status of one or more of the existing authoritative bodies for the identification of chemicals as causing cancer;

• rescind the authoritative status in the area of carcinogenicity of certain programs or groups within the existing authoritative bodies;

• identify other bodies as authoritative for the identification of chemicals as causing cancer.

As a result of the June 11, 1998 workshop, OEHHA received written comments from various interested parties concerning the issue of authoritative bodies. Copies of the written comments will be forwarded to the members of the Carcinogen Identification Committee. A log of the written comments received is available on the OEHHA Web site at www.oehha.ca.gov. Copies of the written comments are available from the Proposition 65 Implementation Office by calling Ms. Cynthia Oshita at (916) 445-6900.

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

For help with this web site please contact the Web Mistress