LIHU‘E — When shopping for anything from toys to food, you may notice a discreet label warning you that the product you are considering buying “contains chemicals known to the State of California to cause cancer and birth defects or
LIHU‘E — When shopping for anything from toys to food, you may notice a discreet label warning you that the product you are considering buying “contains chemicals known to the State of California to cause cancer and birth defects or other reproductive harm.”
If these products contain such dangerous chemicals, why are they available here? Anahola mother Ana Netanel is among those who want to know.
California transplants on Kaua‘i who have spent time in the Golden State in the last two decades probably already know the answer, or have grown so accustomed to the ubiquitous warning labels that they don’t even notice them anymore.
The answer is Proposition 65. Originally passed in 1986, Prop 65, also known as The Safe Drinking Water and Toxic Enforcement Act, requires the state to publish a list of potentially dangerous chemicals and update that list each year. According to California’s Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment government Web site, the list is now nearly 800 items long.
Lynn Nakasone, program manager for the Food and Drug Branch of the Hawai‘i Department of Health, said the prevalence of such warnings in Hawai‘i is likely a matter of finances and convenience, as items shipped to Hawai‘i from California or other states could all carry the same labels.
“I don’t think there is any Hawai‘i requirement, at least from this office, we don’t have any rules that say that certain cautionary verbiage has to be on any products,” Nakasone said Tuesday, noting that her branch does label non-food-grade salt as not for human consumption and would address unapproved ingredients in any locally produced food products. “We don’t have specific laws like California does.”
Calls to various representatives of the state’s Department of Commerce and Consumer Affairs yielded similar responses. A message left for the state’s Department of Agriculture late Tuesday was not returned by press time.
Netanel said Tuesday she planned to contact state Rep. Hermina Morita to discuss the possibility of creating Hawai‘i legislation to keep unsafe products far from the islands’ shores.
“I want to get a stronger law here. I figured if they’re not breaking any law, and it’s OK to bring these kind of chemicals, I don’t want that risk,” Netanel said, pointing to the label’s warning that the chemicals are known to cause cancer. “I don’t want my kids to get that, or any kids, or any people for that matter.”
Netanel said she purchased an innocuous-looking fishing net for her 3-year-old child before noticing the label, and asked a major Lihu‘e retailer to put up a sign warning consumers to the risk. She was told it was against corporate policy to do so.
“I don’t want anything like that to enter the state of Hawai‘i,” Netanel said. “I want to take some action for the ‘ohana and the keiki, I don’t want that stuff here.”
For more information, contact the Hawai‘i Department of Health’s Food and Drug Branch at 808-586-4725, the Hawai‘i Department of Commerce and Consumer Affairs at 274-3141 or the Hawai‘i Department of Agriculture at 808-832-0705.
• Michael Levine, assistant news editor, can be reached at 245-3681 (ext. 252) or mlevine@kauaipubco.com
