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Chemicals Listed Effective December 18, 2009 as Known to the State of California to Cause Cancer or Reproductive Toxicity: wood dust, zidovudine (AZT), Tert-Amyl methyl ether (TAME) and ethyl-tert-butyl ether (EBTE)

Effective December 18, 2009, the Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment (OEHHA) of the California Environmental Protection Agency is adding the chemicals identified below to the list of chemicals known to the state to cause cancer or reproductive toxicity, for the purposes of Proposition 65.  

  • Wood dust and zidovudine (AZT) are being added to the list as known to the state to cause cancer. Tert-Amyl methyl ether (TAME) and ethyl-tert-butyl ether (EBTE) are being added as known to the state to cause reproductive toxicity. 

Health and Safety Code section 25249.8(a) requires that certain substances identified by the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) or the National Toxicology Program (NTP), as described in Labor Code section 6382(b)(1) and (d), be included on the Proposition 65 list as causing cancer.  Labor Code section 6382(b)(1) references substances identified as human or animal carcinogens by IARC, and Labor Code section 6382(d) references substances identified as carcinogens or potential carcinogens by IARC or NTP. 

Health and Safety Code section 25249.8(a) further requires that substances identified in Labor Code section 6382(d) as causing reproductive toxicity be included on the Proposition 65 list.  Labor Code section 6382(d) references chemicals within the scope of the federal Hazard Communication Standard that are identified as reproductive toxicants (Title 29, Code of Federal Regulations (CFR), section1910.1200, Toxic and Hazardous Substances, Occupational Safety and Health Administration).  Chemicals are listed under Proposition 65 if they are identified as causing developmental or reproductive toxicity in the latest edition of the American Conference of Governmental Industrial Hygienists (ACGIH) “Threshold Limit Values” (Title 29, CFR, section 1910.1200(d)(3)).

The bases for these listings was described in two public notices both published in the June 12, 2009, issue of the California Regulatory Notice Register (Register 2009, No. 24-Z).  The titles of the notices were “Request For Comments on Chemicals Proposed For Listing By the Labor Code Mechanism (carcinogens)”; and “Request For Comments on Chemicals Proposed For Listing By the Labor Code Mechanism (reproductive and developmental toxicants)”.  The publication of the two notices initiated a 30-day public comment period that closed on July 13, 2009.

OEHHA has not established no-significant-risk-levels (NSRLs) for the carcinogens or the maximum allowable dose levels (MADLs) for reproductive toxicants included in this notice.  The priority status of the development of these NSRLs and MADLs will be announced in a future version of OEHHA’s Proposition 65 Status Report on No Significant Risk Levels for Carcinogens and Maximum Allowable Dose levels for Chemicals Causing Reproductive Toxicity.

A complete, updated Proposition 65 list is published elsewhere in this issue of the California Regulatory Notice Register.  The table below summarizes the changes made today to the Proposition 65 list.

Carcinogens

Chemical CAS No. Toxicological Endpoint Listing Mechanism1

 
Wood dust --- Cancer LC
Zidovudine (AZT) 30516-87-1 Cancer LC
Chemical CAS No. Toxicological Endpoint Listing Mechanism1

Reproductive Toxicants
Tert-amyl methyl ether 994-05-8

Developmental toxicity

 LC
Ethyl-tert-butyl ether 637-92-3 Male reproductive toxicity LC

Footnotes and References

1 Listing mechanism: LC – “Labor Code” mechanism (Labor Code sections 6382(b)(1) and (d))