WHAT IS PROPOSITION 65?
Proposition 65, officially the Safe Drinking Water and Toxic Enforcement Act of 1986, is a law that requires warnings be provided to California consumers when they might be exposed to chemicals identified by California as causing cancer or reproductive toxicity. The warnings are intended to help California consumers make informed decisions about their exposures to these chemicals from the products they use. The California Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment (OEHHA) administers the Proposition 65 program and publishes the listed chemicals, which includes more than 850 chemicals. In August 2016, OEHHA adopted new regulations, effective on August 30, 2018, which change the information required in Proposition 65 warnings.
We are providing the following warning for products linked to this page:
WARNING: This product can expose you to chemicals including lead and cadmium which are known to the State of California to cause birth defects or other reproductive harm. For more information, go to www.P65Warnings.ca.gov
Wildfish Cannery complies with all pertinent laws, including Proposition 65. We have chosen to provide a Proposition 65 notice to be compliant. The warning does not mean that Wildfish Cannery products will cause any harm. Similarly, a Proposition 65 warning does not mean a product is in violation of any product-safety standards or requirements. In fact, the California government has clarified that “the fact that a product bears a Proposition 65 warning does not mean by itself that the product is unsafe.” The government has also explained, “You could think of Proposition 65 more as a ‘right to know’ law than a pure product safety law.” See https://www.p65warnings.ca.gov for additional information.
WHERE CAN I FIND MORE INFO?
The California Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment, OEHHA, has an in-depth webpage at https://oehha.ca.gov/proposition-65, which explains the law and offers a list of all the chemicals and materials.
To make a specific inquiry, you can call the Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment's Proposition 65 Implementation Office at (916) 445-6900 or send an email to P65.Questions@oehha.ca.gov.
ABOUT SEAFOOD MONITORING IN ALASKA
Environmental contaminants can threaten the health of ecosystems and have negative impacts on the health and well being of fish and wildlife by reducing growth, development, reproduction, and survivability of individuals and potentially impacting populations. The Department of Environmental Conservation is concerned about Alaska's natural resources and the health of the residents of the state. Consequently, the Fish Monitoring Program (FMP) was established to determine the presence of bioaccumulative contaminants in Alaska's fishes and monitor spatial and temporal trends in the levels of those contaminants in fish tissue.
Important commercial, recreational, and subsistence fish and shellfish species are analyzed for trace metals (methyl mercury, total mercury, total arsenic, inorganic arsenic, selenium, copper, lead, cadmium) as well as persistent organic pollutants (POPs) such as: dioxins and furans, organochlorine pesticides, PCB congeners, brominated fire retardants, per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS), personal care products, and pharmaceuticals.
Fish and environmental samples are collected from all over the state, primarily in coastal marine waters and some coastal watersheds. In addition, fish are collected from streams, rivers, and lakes that are important to subsistence and sport fisherman. Industry, regulators, scientists and the public benefit from this information by being able to make informed decisions about fish consumption and the impact of environmental contaminants on commercial and subsistence fisheries in Alaska.
To learn more about Alaska's monitoring program and review recent results visit https://dec.alaska.gov/eh/vet/fish-monitoring-program.