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Policy

Styrene Avoids Injurious Label For Now

Industry wins round in fight to keep chemical off California's toxics list

by Glenn Hess
August 17, 2009

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Credit: Shutterstock
A California court blocked a move to add styrene to Prop. 65, which means styrofoam cups won't need a warning label.
Credit: Shutterstock
A California court blocked a move to add styrene to Prop. 65, which means styrofoam cups won't need a warning label.

A California Superior Court judge in Sacramento has tentatively ruled that state environmental officials may not add styrene monomer to the state's list of chemicals that threaten human health.

Adding styrene to the Proposition 65 list of chemicals known to cause cancer or reproductive toxicity "could have a devastating effect on that product's use," Judge Shelleyanne W. L. Chang said in her Aug. 12 ruling.

Styrene is widely used in food packaging, consumer electronics, automobile parts, and many other products.

Chang ordered the California Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment not to proceed with its plan to list the chemical as a cancer-causing agent under Proposition 65. The office proposed adding styrene to the list in June, citing a finding by the International Agency for Research on Cancer that styrene is "probably carcinogenic to humans" (C&EN, June 22, page 28).

Jack Snyder, executive director of the Styrene Information & Research Center (SIRC), the industry group that filed the suit, says styrene is not a human carcinogen, and that placing it on the list would stigmatize the chemical and cause irreparable harm to the industry.

"Proposition 65 was intended to be a science-based list of known carcinogens, not a list of suspect chemicals," Snyder says. "It is worth noting that no authoritative body anywhere in the world considers styrene to be a known human carcinogen."

The court will next hear arguments on whether the state should be permanently enjoined from listing styrene under Proposition 65.

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