California IN BRIEF : SAN FRANCISCO : U.S. Court Upholds Proposition 65

The U.S. Court of Appeals upheld California’s Proposition 65, the Safe Drinking Water and Toxic Enforcement Act approved by voters in 1986. The law had been challenged by the Chemical Specialties Manufacturers Assn. on grounds that the state law’s provisions requiring warnings to the public of health effects were preempted by federal laws. But in a decision written by Judge Procter Hug Jr. of the 9th Circuit in San Francisco, the court rejected the trade group’s argument. Deputy Atty. Gen. Edward G. Weil said that if the state had lost the case, California would have been precluded from requiring manufacturers to warn consumers if there was a significant exposure to chemicals that caused cancer, birth defects or reproductive harm.