Key Takeaways

What Happened: The California Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment (OEHHA) released draft amendments to the Proposition 65 warning regulations for discussion at a workshop on July 30, 2026.

Who Is Impacted: The draft could most affect manufacturers and retailers of foods and botanical products, as well as manufacturers and retailers of off-road and off-highway parts.

Action Item: Manufacturers and retailers subject to Prop 65 should consider submitting in-person oral public comments at OEHHA’s pre-regulatory workshop on July 30, 2026, or written public comments by the deadline of September 7, 2026.

Overview of Proposed Amendments

California’s Proposition 65 (Prop 65) requires businesses to provide “clear and reasonable” warnings before knowingly and intentionally exposing individuals to chemicals listed as known to the State to cause cancer or reproductive toxicity, unless an exemption applies. On July 22, 2026, OEHHA released pre-rulemaking draft text addressing eight potential amendments to the Prop 65 regulations. The draft is preliminary and may change before OEHHA initiates formal rulemaking. Of the eight topics addressed, six propose substantive changes directly relevant to regulated businesses, detailed below.

1. Narrowing the “Naturally Occurring” Exemption

Under the current regulations, consumption of food does not constitute an “exposure” under Prop 65 to the extent a listed chemical is naturally occurring. A chemical is naturally occurring if it is an inherent component of the food or is absorbed from the natural environment in which the food is grown, raised, or obtained. The exclusion does not extend to amounts attributable to known human activity. Producers and manufacturers also must use good agricultural and manufacturing practices to reduce natural contaminants to the lowest level currently feasible.

If a food contains both naturally occurring and human-caused amounts of a listed chemical, only the portion attributable to human activity is treated as an exposure and counted in determining whether the applicable Prop 65 safe-harbor level is exceeded.

Presently, “human activity” does not include ordinary agricultural practices such as sowing, planting, irrigation, and plowing, but it does include the addition of chemicals to irrigation water applied to soil or crops. The proposed amendment would expand the category of activities that constitute “human activity” to provide that extracting or concentrating a listed chemical from any source, including a plant, may constitute human activity.

Impact: High. The proposed amendment could result in some or all of a listed chemical present in food through extraction or concentration being treated as attributable to “human activity” and included in the Prop 65 exposure calculation. Botanical supplements, plant extracts, essential oils, concentrated foods and beverages, and non-food products formulated with food-derived ingredients that have historically not been subject to the warning requirement may become subject to it without any change in formulation. Food and beverage products likely to be most affected by the proposal include those containing essential oils, botanical isolates, purified flavor constituents, concentrated herbal extracts, plant powders, plant protein concentrates, and highly concentrated juice or syrup ingredients.

2. Short-Form Warning Could Require Naming “One or More Chemicals”

The regulations currently require that, when providing short-form Proposition 65 warnings, manufacturers must name at least one listed Prop 65 chemical known to cause cancer or reproductive harm. The proposed amendments would modify the short-form warning options from requiring the identification of at least one chemical to allowing for the identification of “one or more chemicals.”

Impact: Low. The practical effect is unclear. The change appears technical, and the “one or more” language preserves the option to name a single chemical, and so does not compel a business to list all or even multiple listed chemicals present in the product. 

3. Warnings for Internet Purchases

The current regulatory text states that, for internet purchases, the warning requirements are satisfied if the full-form or short-form warning is provided only on the product display page, or through another prominently displayed warning provided before the online purchase is completed. The proposed amendment would require a full-form or short-form warning on the product and a full-form or short-form warning on the product display page.

Impact: Low to Moderate. OEHHA stated in its 2016 guidance that the existing safe harbor regulations pertaining to internet and catalog sales require a warning on the webpage or in the catalog as well as on the product. OEHHA reiterated this point in 2024. This proposed amendment would therefore have limited practical effect on businesses already following OEHHA’s guidance by providing both an on-product and online warning. However, it would materially increase the compliance burden for businesses that have relied on the current regulatory text to provide only an online warning by converting OEHHA’s existing guidance into an express regulatory requirement.

4. QR Codes as a Safe Harbor Warning Method

The proposal would expressly add QR codes as a safe-harbor transmission method when the code is placed on a label, product labeling, posted sign, shelf tag, or shelf sign and links directly to a webpage containing compliant warning content. The proposed text also contemplates accompanying the code with language identifying it as a Proposition 65 warning.

Impact: Low. OEHHA recognized QR codes as a method of providing warnings in its prior guidance. This proposed amendment therefore codifies existing guidance, rather than creating a new obligation.

5. Retailer Responsibility to Provide Warnings

Current regulations identify circumstances in which a retailer is responsible for providing a warning to the public (e.g., when a retailer covers, obscures, or alters a warning affixed to a product, or fails to display warning materials provided by manufacturers). The proposed amendment would simplify the language describing such circumstances.

Impact: Low. The revised language is intended as simplification rather than substantive change.

6. Additional Warning Options for Off-Road Vehicle and Equipment Parts

The regulations prescribe tailored warning methods and content for particular exposure categories—alcoholic beverages, dental care, wood dust, and diesel engines, among others. The proposal would establish tailored safe-harbor warnings for covered off-road vehicle and equipment parts. Businesses could use the new tailored warning, continue using generally applicable consumer-product warnings, or display the prescribed warning on a point-of-sale sign. The new warning would address exposures associated with purchasing, handling, or installing covered parts.

Impact: High. The proposal would expand businesses’ compliance options rather than require them to replace existing warnings. Manufacturers, importers, and retailers should evaluate whether the tailored warning or point-of-sale option would simplify their current warning practices.

Next Steps

Businesses should consider identifying products that rely on the naturally occurring exemption and contain extracted or concentrated ingredients; confirming that online warning procedures provide both the applicable product warning and a pre-purchase online warning; and evaluating whether the proposed off-road-parts warning options would simplify existing compliance programs.

OEHHA will hold a pre-regulatory workshop to discuss potential amendments to Proposition 65 regulations on July 30, 2026. Impacted businesses should participate if they wish to provide in-person oral public comments at the workshop or submit written comments on or before Monday, September 7, 2026.