The California Environmental Protection Agency's (Cal/EPA) Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment (OEHHA) issued a notice on April 11, 2014, stating that it intends to list ethylene glycol as known to the State to cause reproductive toxicity under Proposition 65. Proposition 65, also known as the Safe Drinking Water and Toxic Enforcement Act of 1986, requires the governor of California to publish, at least annually, a list of chemicals "known to the State to cause cancer or reproductive toxicity." Products containing listed substances are subject to disclosure requirements under the law.
OEHHA is proposing to list ethylene glycol under Proposition 65's authoritative bodies listing mechanism based on a 2004 report issued by the National Toxicology Program's Center for the Evaluation of Risks to Human Reproduction. The report is titled, "NTP-CERHR Monograph on the Potential Human Reproductive and Developmental Effects of Ethylene Glycol." In its intent to list announcement, OEHHA states that the 2004 report concluded with respect to ethylene glycol that "there is clear evidence of adverse effects for reproductive toxicity (developmental endpoint) in laboratory animals at high oral doses." Ethylene glycol is a precursor used in the manufacture of polyester resins, such as polyethylene terephthalate (PET).
Comments on whether ethylene glycol meets the criteria set forth in the Proposition 65 regulations for authoritative bodies listings are due to OEHHA by May 12. Details on how to submit comments can be found on OEHHA's website.