The study says that scary product warning stickers in California may work.

Warnings, on thousands of products sold in California, are blatant.

“Using the following products, it will expose you to known chemicals for California, causing cancer, birth defects, or any other reproductive damage,” says one of the stickers.

Now, new research shows that warnings may work.

A study published on Wednesday in the magazine Environmental sciences and technology I found that the California right law, which requires companies to warn people of harmful chemicals in their products, may have been affected by many companies to stop using these chemicals completely.

Dr. Megan Schwarzmann, doctor and environmental health scientist at the University of California, College of Public Health, author of the book “The doctor and environmental health scientist at the University of California, College of Public Health and author of the book” The doctor and environmental health scientist at the University of California, Berkeley College of Public Health and author of the book “The doctor and a scientist Environmental health study.

Collect this with the threat of lawsuits and reputation costs, as well as companies that just want to do the right thing to health, and “become a great incentive for change,” she said.

California maintains a list of about 900 known chemicals known to cause cancer and other health effects. Under the 1986 Knowledge Law, also known as the name Pillar 65You should carry products that people can expose people to harmful quantities of these chemicals warning stickers.

Critics have long been mocked of this procedure, saying that the warnings were everywhere – attached to the tools of cooking, fake leather jackets, and even baked goods – which have become significantly meaningless in the eyes of shoppers. But the last study found that companies, more than consumers, may be affected more than warnings.

To assess the impact of the law, the researchers made interviews with 32 global manufacturers and retailers who sell clothes, personal care, cleaning and a set of home products. Nearly 80 percent of the interviews said that PROP 65 led them to reformulate their products.

Companies can avoid warning stickers if they reduce the level of any chemicals to invite 65 under the threshold of “Safe Port”.

A similar share of companies said it is looking to support 65 to identify chemicals that should be avoided. 63 percent said that the law prompted them to reformulate the products they sold outside California.

The American Chemistry Council, which represents the chemical manufacturers, did not respond immediately to request a comment on the study.

There is no other country that has a law like pillar 65, and requires warnings about a wide range of products about cancer or reproductive harm. New York was a more limited law in 2020 that requires manufacturers to detect some chemicals in children’s products that prohibit the use of some chemicals by 2023. Other states have laws directed towards detection of ingredients on stickers.

California, at the same time, is pushing forward. Change 2018 to ProP 65 means that the products began to withstand more specific stickers. For example, some food and beverage boxes may carry stickers that warn that they have blankets containing vinol A (BPA), a known chemical for California that causes harm to the reproductive system of females. “

The latest research is part of a larger effort to analyze the PROP 65 effect on people’s exposure to toxic chemicals. in A study published last yearResearchers at the Silent Spring and UC Berkelegi Institute found that in the years that followed the inclusion of some chemicals under the law, the levels of these chemicals in people’s bodies in California and the country have decreased.

This research came with a warning, however. In some examples where the listed chemical levels decreased, an alternative increased closely for this chemical, and perhaps with similar harmful effects, increased. ProP 65 has no mechanism to check the safety of alternative chemicals.

Dr. Schwarzmann said that there are stronger policies on both the federal and level levels of the states to study and organize thousands of chemicals in the market. She said: “This is much larger than the individual consumer and what we choose away.”