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Thank you for contacting the Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment (OEHHA) regarding art and crafts materials.

California Education Code Section 32064 32064 prohibits schools from ordering or purchasing any product that contains toxic or carcinogenic substances for use in grades K-6. The law (Education Code Section 32065) also restricts the purchase of such products in grades 7-12, allowing the use only if the product bears a label informing the user of the presence of hazardous ingredients, the potential health effects, and instructions for the safe use. This restriction applies whether or not the product is included on the list of unacceptable art and crafts supplies.

Section 32066 of the Education Code requires that OEHHA develop a list of art and crafts materials "which cannot be purchased or ordered" for use in kindergarten and grades one through six. (Education Code section 32066).

Accordingly, we are providing you with a list of unacceptable
products -- those which "cannot be purchased." The products are those listed among the Arts and Creative Materials Institute's (ACMI) determinations of products that require a "Health Label/Caution Required Seal," dated February 14, 2007. Additionally, we may include products that have been recalled as reported by the US Consumer Product Safety Commission.

In addition to using this list to determine which products cannot be purchased, we suggest that you inform the purchasers of school supplies that in order to comply with Education Code 32064 they must be sure that the materials they purchase are from manufacturers who will assure that their products are in compliance with both Health and Safety Code Section 108500 et seq. and Health and Safety Code Section 25249.5 et seq.

Health and Safety Code Section 28794 et seq. regulates warning labels required on art or crafts materials; Health and Safety Code Section 25249.5 et seq. is the Safe Drinking Water and Toxic Enforcement Act of 1986, otherwise known as Proposition 65, which requires warnings for chemicals known to the State of California to cause cancer or reproductive harm. If your purchasers cannot obtain assurances that the products they purchase are properly labeled, they may wish to seek alternative suppliers.

We solicit the aid of school administrators and educators in updating the list of unacceptable materials by encouraging them to inform us of any products that bear health warnings, so that we may include those products in our updates of the list of unacceptable materials.

If your purchasers would like a list of products that are certified as properly labeled and non-toxic, they can contact ACMI and request the list of certified non-toxic art and crafts supplies. ACMI’s address is 1280 Main St, 2nd Floor, P.O. Box 479, Hanson MA 02341. Phone (781)293-4100. Web address: http://www.acminet.org

Please feel free to give our office a call at (916) 324-2829 if you have any questions.

Sincerely,

Laurie Monserrat
Laurie.Monserrat@oehha.ca.gov

Follow this link to download a copy of this letter as a pdf file

Follow this link to download a copy of the May 2007 Art Hazards List as a pdf file

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