California Considers Adding "Safe Harbor Level" for Vinyl Acetate
Potential regulatory amendments published by California’s Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment (OEHHA) on Monday would add a no significant risk level, or NSRL, as a “safe harbor level” for vinyl acetate, a Proposition 65 chemical. Exposures that do not exceed safe harbor levels, which include NSRLs, are exempt from the requirements of Proposition 65, a California law that requires businesses to warn people about toxic chemicals in their products, homes, and workplaces or that are released into the environment.
In response to feedback “from multiple stakeholders about the absence of a safe harbor level” for vinyl acetate, OEHHA presents for discussion a possible NSRL for the chemical of 11 micrograms per day. Explanatory information published with the draft regulatory text states that this NSRL is based on a carcinogenicity study in rodents and was derived using methods from the regulation regarding quantitative risk assessments for establishing NSRLs (Title 27, Calfornia Code of Regulations, section 25703). Another regulatory amendment proposed by OEHHA would clarify which analytical methods should be used to demonstrate vinyl acetate exposures.
OEHHA has scheduled a pre-regulatory workshop on the potential vinyl acetate amendments to be held online on Sept. 30. Individuals may participate in the workshop via Zoom, and OEHHA will accept written comments until Oct. 21. Further details about the workshop and public comment period can be found in the notice to interested parties (PDF).
Vinyl acetate, which is used mainly in polymer and copolymer production and as a food additive, was added to the Proposition 65 list last year after California’s Carcinogen Identification Committee determined that the chemical has been “clearly shown to cause cancer.” It was classified as “possibly carcinogenic to humans” by the International Agency for Research on Cancer in 1995 and as “suspected of causing cancer” by the European Chemicals Agency in 2011, an OEHHA document outlining evidence on the carcinogenicity of vinyl acetate (PDF) notes.
Access the materials about vinyl acetate from OEHHA’s website.