Carcinogen Identification Committee

The Carcinogen Identification Committee is a group of expert scientists appointed by the Governor to identify chemicals that have been clearly shown through scientifically valid testing according to generally accepted principles to cause cancer. (Cal. Health & Safety Code § 25249.8).

A Committee of Experts

The Carcinogen Identification Committee includes experts from among the following areas of specialization: epidemiology, oncology, pathology, medicine, public health, statistics, biology, toxicology, and related fields.

An Expert Determination

The committee meets at least once each calendar year.

The addition of a chemical to the Proposition 65 list by the committee requires three steps:

  1. During the months prior to each meeting, scientists from the Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment prepare a hazard identification document that contains the scientific evidence on a chemical’s carcinogenicity. The public has an opportunity to submit relevant information to OEHHA that may be included in the document.  Once the document is completed, it is released to the public for a 45-day comment period.  Committee members then review the document as well as the public comments received.
  2. At the meetings, committee members have a chance to hear public testimony on the chemical and then review, discuss and vote on the evidence they have seen and heard.
  3. Members will vote to add a chemical to the list only if “it has been clearly shown through scientifically valid testing according to generally accepted principles to cause cancer ….” (Cal. Health & Safety Code § 25249.8).

Members of the committee also have the authority to suggest and prioritize chemicals for future review. They also identify the “authoritative bodies” (such as the National Toxicology Program and the International Agency for Research on Cancer) whose formal identifications of carcinogens qualify chemicals for listing. (Cal. Health & Safety Code § 25249.8).

The Carcinogen Identification Committee Members Are:

  • Jason Bush has served as associate professor of cancer biology at California State University, Fresno since 2012 and was assistant professor of cancer biology from 2006 to 2012. He was a post-doctoral fellow at the Sanford-Burnham Medical Research Institute from 2002 to 2006 and research assistant at the University of British Columbia from 1994 to 1997. He earned a Master of Science degree in zoology and a doctorate degree in experimental medicine from the University of British Columbia. He is a member of the American Association of Cancer Research, American Society for Cell Biology, American Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, and U.S. Human Proteome Organization.
  • Shanaz Dairkee has been a senior scientist at the California Pacific Medical Center since 1994 and a consulting professor for the Stanford University School of Medicine since 2011.  She was a staff scientist at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory from 1990-1994, and a member of the Helen Diller Comprehensive Cancer Center, Breast Oncology Program at University of California, San Francisco from 1999-2009.  She is a member of the American Association for Cancer Research.  She earned a doctorate degree in human genetics and development from Columbia University.
  • David A. Eastmond has served on the Carcinogen Identification Committee since 1999.  He is a professor and chair of the Department of Cell Biology & Neuroscience at the University of California, Riverside.  He received his Bachelor and Master of Science degrees from Brigham Young University and his doctorate degree from the University of California, Berkeley.  From 1987 to 1989, he served as an Alexander Hollaender Distinguished Postdoctoral Fellow at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory.  Shortly thereafter, he joined the faculty at UC Riverside where he is actively involved in research and teaching in the areas of toxicology and risk assessment.  His research has centered on the metabolism and chromosome-damaging effects of various environmental chemicals including benzene, a widely used industrial chemical and environmental pollutant, and ortho-phenylphenol, a commonly used fungicide and disinfectant.  He has served as the president of the Environmental Mutagen Society and as a Jefferson Science Fellow in the U.S.State Department.  He has also participated on a variety of advisory panels related to chemical mutagenesis, carcinogenesis and risk assessment including panels for the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, the International Programme for Chemical Safety, the International Agency for Research on Cancer, the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development, Health Canada and the International Working Group for Genotoxicity Testing.  He recently served as the chair of the Board of Scientific Counselors for the National Toxicology Program.
  • Joseph R. Landolph has served on the Carcinogen Identification Committee since 1993.  He has been associate professor of molecular microbiology, immunology and pathology and associate professor of molecular pharmacology and pharmaceutical sciences at the University of Southern California since 1987.  He is a member of the University of Southern California, Norris Comprehensive Cancer Center at the Keck School of Medicine.  He earned a doctorate degree in chemistry from the University of California, Berkeley.
  • Thomas Mack has served on the Carcinogen Identification Committee since 1993.  He has been professor of preventive medicine at the University of Southern California since 1974.  He earned a Master of Public Health degree in epidemiology from the Harvard School of Public Health and a doctorate degree in medicine from the Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons.
  • Thomas McDonald has been lead toxicologist for product safety at the Clorox Company since 2014. He was senior staff scientist at Bayer Healthcare Pharmaceuticals from 2008 to 2014, where he was principal research scientist from 2006 to 2008. McDonald was a toxicology manager at Arysta LifeScience North America from 2005 to 2006. He served as a staff toxicologist in the California Environmental Protection Agency’s Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment from 1998 to 2005, where he was an associate toxicologist from 1994 to 1998. McDonald earned a Doctor of Philosophy degree in environmental health sciences from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and a Master of Public Health degree in environmental health sciences from the University of California, Berkeley.
  • Peggy Reynolds has been a consulting professor at the Stanford University School of Medicine, Department of Health Research and Policy since 2007 and senior research scientist at the Cancer Prevention Institute of California since 2006.  She was chief of the environmental epidemiology section at the California Department of Public Health from 1993 to 2006.  She earned a Master of Public Health degree in behavioral science and a doctorate degree in epidemiology from the University of California, Berkeley.
  • Luoping Zhang, is an Adjunct Professor of Toxicology in the Division of Environmental Health Sciences, School of Public Health at the University of California, Berkeley where she has employed since 1992.  She earned a Master of Science degree in biochemistry from the Huazhong University of Science and Technology and a doctorate degree in biochemical toxicology from Simon Fraser University, British Columbia.  Her research has focused on investigating biological consequences and molecular mechanisms of leukemia and lymphoma associated with exposures to toxic chemicals (e.g. benzene, formaldehyde, trichloroethylene etc).  Most recently, her group employs many high-throughput novel technologies such as single-cell genetic analysis (SCGA) and array-based omic technologies, including toxicogenomics, proteomics and epigenetics in molecular epidemiology studies, microRNA and RNAi (RNA interference) in human cell cultures.  A Systems Biology approach is currently applied in her population studies.  She has also served as a member on various committees for Institute of Medicine at the National Academies.