California's Proposition 65, The Safe Drinking Water &;Toxic Enforcement Act of 1986, was a voter initiative passed to address citizen concerns about exposure to substances which cause cancer or reproductive toxicity. The law prohibits businesses from discharging such chemicals into sources of drinking water, and requires that warnings be given to individuals exposed to them.

• Implemented by the Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment (OEHHA)
• Requires the governor of California to annually publish a list of chemicals known to cause cancer or reproductive toxicity
• Prop 65 committee relies on information from the State’s qualified experts and national authoritative bodies: IARC, NIOSH, NTP, US EPA, US FDA
  

Sodium saccharin was originally added to the Proposition 65 list in 1988 as a chemical known to the state to cause cancer. Saccharin was added in 1989. Both had been identified by IARC and NTP as causing cancer
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Under Proposition 65, products containing either of these compounds were required to carry a label, “WARNING: This product contains a chemical known to the State of California to cause cancer.”

In 2001, saccharin was delisted as a result of IARC and NTP reclassifications. The IARC had re-classified saccharin and its salts as “ not classifiable as to their carcinogenicity to humans,” citing “inadequate evidence in experimental animals for the carcinogenicity of saccharin,” and the NTP removed saccharin from it’s Report on Carcinogens.

However, sodium saccharin was not removed from the NTP’s list and, subsequently, could not be delisted by Proposition 65. New data and public comments are currently being reviewed by the OEHHA’s Carcinogen Identification Committee to determine if sodium saccharin will be delisted.

References

Chemicals (Saccharin) Delisted Effective April 6, 2001 as Known to the California to Cause Cancer: http://www.oehha.org/prop65/CRNR_notices/chemicals_reconsideration/fdelistsacc.html

Request for Information on Sodium Saccharin Chemical to be Considered by OEHHA'S Science Advisory Board's Carcinogen Identification Committee: http://www.oehha.org/prop65/CRNR_notices/state_listing/data_callin/HIDcallinSodSacc.html

General Information about Proposition 65: http://www.calprop65.com/prop65.html