What is Proposition 65?

Proposition 65 (“Prop 65”) is a California law formally known as the Safe Drinking Water and Toxic Enforcement Act. Prop 65 is a unique California only “right to know” law that requires products sold in California or online and shipped to California customers to bear a warning notice about potential exposure to any of the over 1,000 substances listed by the state as causing cancer, birth defects, or other reproductive harm. The list includes synthetic and naturally occurring chemicals that are found in common household products including food, medications, and other products. Products containing lead, cadmium, or other listed substances, even in very small amounts, must have a California Proposition 65 warning. If your shipping address is in California you must agree that you understand and consent to the following which applies to every product we ship to California:

California Proposition 65 WARNING: Cancer and Reproductive Harm - www.P65Warnings.ca.gov/food and
California Proposition 65 WARNING: Consuming this product can expose you to chemicals, including lead, which is known to the State of California to cause cancer and birth defects or other reproductive harm. For further information go to www.P65Warnings.ca.gov/food

For additional information about California Proposition 65 see http://www.oehha.ca.gov/prop65.html

Prop 65 warnings may be required for any product that exposes an individual in California to any chemical listed under the law. This is not just about food but includes any item that has the possibility of having any of these "chemicals". This includes computers, electrical wires, jewelry, padlocks, schools, dishes, flashlights, coffee shops, clothing, cars, restaurants, mobile phones, TV’s, furniture, alcohol, diesel engines, amusement parks, parking lots, hardware stores, gas stations, hospitals, etc. Even testosterone and estrogen, which are naturally produced by your body are listed under Prop 65.

Prop 65 does not ban any products from being sold in California; it simply requires warning labels or signage whenever exposure could cause more than “one excess case of cancer in 100,000 individuals exposed to the chemical over a 70-year lifetime.” Even if a substance is present in an amount 1,000 times below the “no observable effect” level a Prop 65 warning must be displayed.

Lawsuits to enforce Prop 65 against manufacturers may be instituted by the State of California, or much more frequently by private “bounty hunters” and their attorneys who profit from the law. Recently, the dietary supplement industry has been subject to aggressive enforcement by private Proposition 65 bounty hunters over the alleged lead and other heavy metals contained in various supplements and food.

Lead is a naturally occurring element that is found throughout the environment, including in soils where it can be taken up by plants and herbs. Many plants, plant extracts, and minerals used in dietary supplement products contain some level of lead, which is a chemical listed under Proposition 65. Detectable lead can also be found in a variety of food products that are generally considered part of a healthy diet, including fruit juice, seaweed, ginger, and chocolate, all of which have also been the subject of Proposition 65 enforcement.

Under federal laws, the federal government cannot take action to limit the use of a chemical unless it has been proven unsafe. So a chemical is generally considered safe unless there is scientific evidence to the contrary. But under California Prop 65, the presumption of culpability is flipped so a company must prove its product is safe and free of every chemical listed under Prop 65.

The reason you now see this label on our products is, after many years and many lawsuits, the attorneys are running out of companies in California to sue. So they have begun pursuing companies outside of the state that ship product to California. For smaller companies like ourselves, it is not feasible to make a special label only for products shipping to the state of California so we have been forced to add the Prop 65 warning to every product we sell no matter where we ship it to.

The FDA, USDA, European Union, and World Health Organization do not agree with the California Prop 65 law and have found no scientific merit to back it up.

Everything we eat contains tiny amounts of heavy metals (defined as chemicals under Prop 65) due to the fact that they naturally occur in the environment. The FDA has set guidelines on what is considered safe and laboratory testing of our products is done to ensure they not only meet but exceed these limits.