The purpose of Proposition 65 is to ensure the public is informed about the potential exposure to chemicals known to cause cancer, birth defects, or other reproductive harm.

The law requires the State of California to publish a list of these chemicals. This list currently contains ~1,000 chemicals; chemicals are added and removed regularly.

The law requires companies to provide a warning on their products, packaging, literature and/or websites if they contain any of these ~1,000 chemicals. Chemicals on this list can be found in many everyday items such as coffee or aspirin. A warning must be provided if any of the listed chemicals is present in a product unless it can be demonstrated that the chemical poses “no significant risk.” For chemicals that can cause cancer, birth defects or other reproductive harm the threshold levels for exposure risk are determined by the Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment (OEHHA). The OEHHA establishes whether a listed substance meets the significant exposure criteria. If materials do not meet the significant exposure criteria as determined by the OEHHA with only trace amounts present; these materials can be classified as “safe harbor”.

Because Johnson Controls products may have traces of the various substances on the list which are all a part of the normal manufacturing, distribution or labeling process; we have decided to add the warning notices to our impacted products.

What does a Proposition 65 warning mean?

Proposition 65 may be best defined as a “Right to Know” law and thus the warnings are not an indication that a product is violating any safety standards or regulations. The warning does “not” mean Johnson Controls products will inevitably cause cancer or reproductive harm.

Why do some products include this warning?

Proposition 65 law applies to any company operating, manufacturing, selling or distributing products in the state of California. Johnson Controls sells its productions globally and as such it would be impossible to place warnings only on those products shipped to or sold into California. Therefore, we have chosen to include this warning on all of our products to ensure compliance with the Proposition 65 law.

For More Information

Visit the state of California’s Proposition 65 website at: www.p65warnings.ca.gov