Issue link: http://cp.revolio.com/i/592269
ProPoSItIon 65 SEttlEmEntS on thE rISE Source: California Office of the Attorney General number of settlements Dollar amount (in millions) the defendant could prove the level is meaninglessly low it is extremely expensive to engage in a lawsuit. As a result, most defendants end up settling with the plaintiff even when they are not liable, to avoid the expense of litigation. Many argue Proposition 65 has made it harder for consumers to make reasonable choices. The omnipresence of warnings has resulted in "warning blindness" – they are rendered meaningless and make consumers less likely to heed real health risks. That undermines public health instead of promoting it. Californians have learned to ignore Proposition 65 labels because they are white noise: they don't communicate anything about degrees of danger or probabilities. In February, OEHHA published a Notice of Intent to List styrene under Prop 65, despite two earlier failed attempts, one of which was blocked by a state appeals court after deciding the agency lacked sufficient evidence that styrene is "known" to cause cancer. This time around OEHHA is referencing a 2011 report from the National Toxicology Program that concluded styrene – not polystyrene – is "reasonably anticipated to be a human carcinogen", and therein lays the confusion. Polystyrene and styrene are completely different substances with different characteristics. Styrene, a clear liquid, is the monomer that becomes polystyrene, a white solid. Styrene is an organic compound that occurs naturally in small quantities in some plants and foods such as coffee beans and cinnamon. Even "chemicals" that we think of as toxic — elements like lead and cadmium — are naturally- occurring in the Earth's soil and are present in everyday foods like carrots, beets and chocolate. Prop 65 makes no distinction between natural and artificial products and chemicals. In the case of expanded polystyrene (EPS) foam Prop. 65 creates alarm about trace amounts of styrene, that has no 2