California | Alcoholic beverages to be listed as carcinogenic substance

Health and Safety Code section 25249.8(a) incorporates California Labor Code section 6382(b)(1) into Proposition 65.  The law requires that certain substances identified by the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) be listed as known to cause cancer under Proposition 65.  Labor Code section 6382(b)(1) refers to substances identified as human or animal carcinogens by IARC.  OEHHA has adopted regulations concerning this listing mechanism in Title 27, Cal. Code of Regs., section 25904.  As the lead agency for the implementation of Proposition 65, OEHHA evaluates whether a chemical’s listing is required by Proposition 65.

“ Ethanol in Alcoholic Beverages” was listed as known to cause cancer in April 2011 based on a determination by IARC that ethanol in alcoholic beverages was classified in Group 1 (the agent is carcinogenic to humans)

The California Environmental Protection Agency’s Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment (OEHHA) intends to modify the listing of alcoholic beverages as shown in the table below as known to the state to cause cancer under the Safe Drinking Water and Toxic Enforcement Act of 1986 (Proposition 65).  This action is being taken pursuant to the “Labor Code” listing mechanism.  OEHHA has determined that the current listing of “Ethanol in Alcoholic Beverages” should be modified as follows:

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