The proliferation of Prop 65 enforcement continues. Private enforcers issued over 5,000 notices of violation in 2025, with food, personal care, and apparel companies remaining the primary target of such enforcement.
The long-running titanium dioxide coordinated cases came to a conclusion this year with the California Eastern District Court holding that titanium dioxide cancer warnings in cosmetics violate First Amendment free speech rights. But private enforcers have continued to target cosmetics, filing over 100 lawsuits alleging exposures to diethanolamine (DEA) this year, which has resulted in another coordinated proceeding.
Claims relating to heavy metals in foods, beverages, and supplements – particularly lead and cadmium – remain widespread. And the plaintiff bar has also started to focus again on Bisphenol A (BPA) in foods, as well as trace levels of Perfluorooctanoic Acid (PFOA) in beverages.
Hexavalent chromium and BPA claims continue against textile and apparel companies, with industry settlements on both chemicals in place. But a subset of the BPA cases appear headed for a 2026 trial.
Bisphenol S (BPS), which only became penalty eligible under Prop 65 at the end of 2024, constituted nearly one-fifth of the total notices issued in 2025. These notices allege BPS in thermal products such as receipt paper and thermal stickers/labels. Two enforcers have sued hundreds of companies on this topic. California regulators are also considering listing a class of bisphenols, p,p’-Bisphenols, in addition to the already listed BPS and BPA.
Between the significant enforcement activity concerning BPS and consideration of expanding the bisphenols listed, phenol regulation may be an important issue to track under Prop 65 in 2026.
Beyond the potential bisphenol listing, vinyl acetate was listed early this year, with enforcement potentially beginning in 2026. And future chemical listings may include isoeugenol and talc, because the International Agency on Cancer Research (IARC) has recently designated these chemicals as potential carcinogens. These new and possible chemical listings may have a wide range of impacts on the various regulated industries.