Dishware Labeled “Prop 65 Compliant for Lead and Cadmium”

Update August, 2020:  Read more here about ceramic dinnerware.

March 26, 2012, by Debra Lynn Dadd

Question from ninavickers

I purchased dinnerware and didn't realized until I came home that a each of the dinnerware had a sticker on it saying PROP 65 COMPLIANT FOR LEAD & CADMIUM. What does it mean?

Debra's Answer

It means that the dinnerware meets the Proposition 65 standards for Lead and Cadminum in the State of California.

Proposition 65 was intended by its authors "to protect California citizens and the State's drinking water sources from chemicals known to cause cancer, birth defects or other reproductive harm, and to inform citizens about exposures to such chemicals."

I lived in California when this proposition was enacted in 1986. It requires a warning label to be displayed on products that contain chemicals known to the state of California to cause cancer, birth defects or other reproductive harm, such as the one to the right.

The statement you saw on the dinnerware assures consumers that the dinnerware meets the standards and does not require a warning label.

California has established "safe harbor levels" for chemicals that trigger the need for the warning label. These safe harbor numbers "consist of no significant risk levels for chemicals listed as causing cancer and maximum allowable dose levels for chemicals listed as causing birth defects or other reproductive harm. OEHHA has established safe harbor numbers for nearly 300 chemicals to date and continues to develop safe harbor numbers for listed chemicals."

Hmmm...well...I have seen it stated elsewhere that there is no safe level for lead, yet the state of California has a level they consider safe. So your dinnerware so labeled would produce an exposure less than that level. It may be zero, but all the label tells us is that it is less than the amount that would trigger use of the warning label in the state of California.