Notice of Intent to List: Emissions from High-Temperature Unrefined Rapeseed Oil

The California Environmental Protection Agency’s Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment (OEHHA) intends to list emissions from high-temperature unrefined rapeseed oil as known to the State to cause cancer under the Safe Drinking Water and Toxic Enforcement Act of 1986.¹  This action is being proposed under the authoritative bodies listing mechanism.²

Background on listing via the authoritative bodies mechanism:  A chemical must be listed under the Proposition 65 regulations when two conditions are met:

1. An authoritative body formally identifies the chemical as causing cancer (Section 25306(d)³).
2. The evidence considered by the authoritative body meets the sufficiency criteria contained in the regulations (Section 25306(e)).

However, the chemical is not listed if scientifically valid data which were not considered by the authoritative body clearly establish that the sufficiency of evidence criteria were not met (Section 25306(f)).

The International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) is one of several institutions designated as authoritative for the identification of chemicals as causing cancer (Section 25306(m)).

OEHHA is the lead agency for Proposition 65 implementation.  After an authoritative body has made a determination about a chemical, OEHHA evaluates whether listing under Proposition 65 is required using the criteria contained in the regulations.
OEHHA’s determination: Emissions from high-temperature unrefined rapeseed oil meet the criteria for listing as known to the State to cause cancer under Proposition 65, based on findings of IARC (2010).

Formal identification and sufficiency of evidence for emissions from high‑temperature unrefined rapeseed oil:  In 2010, IARC published Volume 95 in the series IARC Monographs on the Evaluation of Carcinogenic Risks to Humans, entitled Household Use of Solid Fuels and High-temperature Frying (IARC, 2010).  This report satisfies the formal identification and sufficiency of evidence criteria in the Proposition 65 regulations for emissions from high‑temperature unrefined rapeseed oil.

IARC concluded “There is sufficient evidence in experimental animals for the carcinogenicity of emissions from high-temperature unrefined rapeseed oil” (emphasis in original).  OEHHA is relying on IARC’s discussion of data and conclusions in the report that emissions from high-temperature unrefined rapeseed oil cause cancer.  Evidence described in the report includes studies showing that emissions from high-temperature unrefined rapeseed oil increase the incidences of combined malignant and benign lung tumors (mainly adenocarcinomas) in male and female Balb/c mice (Zhang et al., 2003; Chen et al., 2005) and the incidence of lung carcinoma in female Sprague Dawley rats (Long et al., 2005). 

Thus, the IARC (2010) has found that emissions from high-temperature unrefined rapeseed oil cause increased incidence of malignant tumors in female rats and combined malignant and benign tumors in both sexes of the mouse.

Request for comments:  OEHHA is requesting comments as to whether emissions from high-temperature unrefined rapeseed oil meet the criteria set forth in the Proposition 65 regulations for authoritative bodies listings.  In order to be considered, OEHHA must receive comments by 5:00 p.m. on Monday, December 16, 2013.  We encourage you to submit comments in electronic form, rather than in paper form. Comments transmitted by e-mail should be addressed to P65Public.Comments@oehha.ca.gov with “NOIL - emissions from high-temperature unrefined rapeseed oil” in the subject line.  Comments submitted in paper form may be mailed, faxed, or delivered in person to the addresses below:

Mailing Address:
Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment
P.O. Box 4010, MS-19B
Sacramento, California 95812-4010
Fax: (916) 323-2265
Street Address: 1001 I Street
Sacramento, California 95814

Comments received during the public comment period will be posted on the OEHHA web site after the close of the comment period.

If you have any questions, please contact OEHHA at P65Public.Comments@oehha.ca.gov or at (916)445‑6900.