If your lunch bag arrived with a warning label, that is thanks to California's Prop 65. The law requires businesses to provide warnings to Californians about significant exposures to chemicals that cause cancer, birth defects, or other reproductive harm. Since conventional lunch bags typically contain a myriad of synthetic chemicals, you might find something like this hanging from your shiny new bag:
⚠︎ WARNING: Cancer and Reproductive Harm
There are currently over 900 chemicals on the Prop 65 list, with new chemicals being added all the time. Products that contain any of these chemicals in amounts that exceed safety standards are required to display a warning label.
Prop 65 goes way beyond federal standards both in terms of scope (it includes many chemicals not regulated at the federal level), as well as by setting lower safe exposure levels. The law also mandates warning labels but, unfortunately, only requires a general warning - not specifics about the chemicals at issue.
For a lunch bag or box, the warning most likely relates to any number of the following, which are frequently used in the materials or manufacturing of these products:
- Phthalates: Often used to make plastics more flexible.
- Lead and other heavy metals: Sometimes found in dyes, paints, or other materials.
- Bisphenol A (BPA): Used in certain plastics and resins.
- PFAS Chemicals: Used to make materials water-resistant and stain-resistant.
- Formaldehyde: Used as a binding agent in some glues, resins, and coatings.
All of these chemicals are known to cause a myriad of health effects, including hormone disruption, immune system damage, reproductive harm, cancer, mood changes and more.
The presence of a Prop 65 warning doesn't necessarily mean that a product is unsafe, but it does mean that it contains a chemical listed by the state of California as potentially harmful at certain exposure levels. It's really up to the consumer to decide what to do with that.
In researching this piece, we repeatedly read that this warning is so prevalent in California (on literally everything) that it has become a bit of a running joke. The overabundance of warnings has made it difficult for consumers to distinguish between genuinely hazardous products and those with minimal risk. But shouldn't we be asking a different question? Like, why are we diminishing the presence of harmful chemicals in literally everything we use? Why aren't we demanding that manufacturers create safer products? By shrugging it off, we're condoning toxic products and ensuring that they'll continue to litter our shelves.
We think it's important to avoid these chemicals wherever possible, and particularly in your choice of a lunch bag - which you or your kids will use daily, and comes into contact with food. Look for lunch bags that are specifically labeled as BPA, phthalate, heavy metal and PFAS-free, or otherwise certified as free of hazardous chemicals.
All Fluf products are independently tested to the highest Prop 65 + EU standards, and are free of all chemicals known to be harmful (including PVC, BPA, phthalates, heavy metals, all PFAS chemicals, and more).
No Prop 65 warning here!
