Prop 65 Warning Checker for Product Listings

Check product listings sold into California for Proposition 65 warning problems. The Prop 65 Warning Checker reads titles, descriptions, bullet points and warning fields and flags safe-harbor warnings missing the word "WARNING", the www.P65Warnings.ca.gov link or the cancer / reproductive harm endpoint, old short-form warnings that don't name a chemical (required for new labels since January 1, 2025), "Prop 65 compliant" claims, and listed chemicals such as lead, BPA, DEHP or PVC plasticizers mentioned with no warning at all. Click Start with the prefilled example to see it work.

This is an automated screen of listing text, not a legal determination. Whether a warning is needed depends on actual exposure and business size, which text can't show. A clean result doesn't mean a product or warning meets Prop 65. Not legal advice; every row carries this disclaimer and a timestamp.

What does the Prop 65 Warning Checker do?

• ✅ Missing safe-harbor elements: the signal word "WARNING", the P65Warnings.ca.gov URL and the endpoint (cancer, reproductive harm).
• ✅ Old short forms like "WARNING: Cancer - www.P65Warnings.ca.gov" that name no chemical. Labels made on or after Jan 1, 2025 must name at least one; products labelled before then can sell through to 2028.
• ✅ Chemicals mentioned with no warning: lead (only in a metal context, so dog leads aren't flagged), BPA, DEHP and other phthalates, cadmium, formaldehyde, acrylamide and more from the OEHHA list.
• ✅ Declared chemicals in your chemicals field that aren't named in the warning.
• ✅ "Prop 65 compliant" or "Prop 65 free" claims, which mean nothing legally, and "not sold in California" notes.
• ✅ Materials that often carry warnings (brass fittings, vinyl/PVC) as low-severity reminders.
• ✅ Output per row: warningFound, warningText, chemicalsMentioned, chemicalsNamedInWarning, riskLevel, issueCount, categoriesFlagged, issues (ruleId, severity, message, quote, sourceUrl, fixHint), checkedAt and a disclaimer.

Who is it for?

• Amazon, Walmart, Home Depot and Shopify sellers checking catalogs before California buyers see them.
• Brands and importers auditing retailer pages for their products.
• Marketplace compliance and catalog teams screening thousands of listings.
• Agencies and consultants reviewing client storefronts.

How to check product listings for Prop 65 warnings

1. Click Start with the prefilled example (an old short form, a hose with lead and DEHP, a 'Prop 65 compliant' claim and a full warning).
2. Replace Products with your own: title, description, features, warnings and optional chemicals.
3. Or enter a Dataset ID from an Amazon, Walmart, Home Depot, Lowe's, Wayfair or Shopify scraper. Common fields are detected automatically; use Field map for nested ones.
4. Turn on Only save rows with findings to skip clean listings; you only pay for saved rows.
5. Export results as CSV, Excel or JSON, or fetch them through the API.

Input example

This is the prefilled input:

{
  "products": [
    {
      "id": "EXAMPLE-FAUCET",
      "title": "Example brass kitchen faucet",
      "warnings": "WARNING: Cancer - www.P65Warnings.ca.gov"
    },
    {
      "id": "EXAMPLE-HOSE",
      "title": "Example 50 ft garden hose",
      "description": "Flexible PVC hose with lead-based brass fittings. DEHP plasticizer for flexibility."
    },
    {
      "id": "EXAMPLE-BOTTLE",
      "title": "Example BPA-free water bottle",
      "description": "Lead-free paint, BPA free. Prop 65 compliant."
    },
    {
      "id": "EXAMPLE-CORD",
      "title": "Example vinyl extension cord",
      "warnings": "WARNING: This product can expose you to chemicals including DEHP, which is known to the State of California to cause cancer and birth defects or other reproductive harm. For more information go to www.P65Warnings.ca.gov."
    }
  ]
}

Dataset mode:

{"datasetId": "YOUR_DATASET_ID", "fieldMap": {"warnings": "specifications.prop65", "description": "descriptionText"}, "onlyFlagged": true}

Output example

Real output from a run of the prefilled input on 2026-11-01 (long finding lists are shortened here; the run returns all of them):

[
  {
    "itemNo": 1,
    "productId": "EXAMPLE-FAUCET",
    "title": "Example brass kitchen faucet",
    "warningFound": true,
    "warningText": "WARNING: Cancer - www.P65Warnings.ca.gov",
    "chemicalsMentioned": [],
    "chemicalsNamedInWarning": [],
    "riskLevel": "medium",
    "issueCount": 1,
    "categoriesFlagged": [
      "old_short_form"
    ],
    "issues": [
      {
        "ruleId": "old_short_form",
        "severity": "medium",
        "message": "This is the pre-2025 short-form warning ('WARNING: Cancer - www.P65Warnings.ca.gov') with no chemical name. Since January 1, 2025 the short form must name at least one chemical; the old form may be used only during the transition to January 1, 2028 (products labelled before then may be sold through).",
        "quote": "WARNING: Cancer - www.P65Warnings.ca.gov",
        "sourceUrl": "https://oehha.ca.gov/proposition-65/crnr/proposition-65-clear-and-reasonable-warnings-safe-harbor-methods-and-content",
        "fixHint": "Use e.g. 'WARNING: Cancer risk from exposure to [chemical]. See www.P65Warnings.ca.gov.'"
      }
    ],
    "url": null,
    "checkedAt": "2026-11-01T19:35:05+00:00",
    "disclaimer": "Automated keyword screening of the listing text supplied against California's Proposition..."
  },
  {
    "itemNo": 2,
    "productId": "EXAMPLE-HOSE",
    "title": "Example 50 ft garden hose",
    "warningFound": false,
    "warningText": null,
    "chemicalsMentioned": [
      "DEHP",
      "lead"
    ],
    "chemicalsNamedInWarning": [],
    "riskLevel": "medium",
    "issueCount": 1,
    "categoriesFlagged": [
      "chemical_mentioned_no_warning"
    ],
    "issues": [
      {
        "ruleId": "chemical_mentioned_no_warning",
        "severity": "medium",
        "message": "The listing mentions DEHP, lead, which is on the Prop 65 list (DEHP: cancer and reproductive harm; lead: cancer and reproductive harm), but no Prop 65 warning was found. A warning is needed only if a business with 10 or more employees causes an exposure above the safe-harbor level; for internet sales it must be on the product page, behind a 'WARNING' link, or shown before purchase (27 CCR 25602(b)).",
        "quote": "...ple 50 ft garden hose Flexible PVC hose with lead-based brass fittings. DEHP plasticizer...",
        "sourceUrl": "https://www.law.cornell.edu/regulations/california/27-CCR-25602",
        "fixHint": "Confirm exposure with the manufacturer or a lab, and add a safe-harbor warning if one is required."
      }
    ],
    "url": null,
    "checkedAt": "2026-11-01T19:35:05+00:00",
    "disclaimer": "Automated keyword screening of the listing text supplied against California's Proposition..."
  },
  {
    "itemNo": 3,
    "productId": "EXAMPLE-BOTTLE",
    "title": "Example BPA-free water bottle",
    "warningFound": true,
    "warningText": "Example BPA-free water bottle\nLead-free paint, BPA free. Prop 65 compliant.\n",
    "chemicalsMentioned": [],
    "chemicalsNamedInWarning": [
      "bisphenol A (BPA)"
    ],
    "riskLevel": "high",
    "issueCount": 4,
    "categoriesFlagged": [
      "endpoint_missing",
      "p65_url_missing",
      "prop65_compliance_claim",
      "signal_word_missing"
    ],
    "issues": [
      {
        "ruleId": "prop65_compliance_claim",
        "severity": "medium",
        "message": "Listing claims to be 'Prop 65 compliant/free/approved'. There is no Prop 65 certification; OEHHA doesn't approve products or warnings, and such claims may be questioned.",
        "quote": "...water bottle Lead-free paint, BPA free. Prop 65 compliant.",
        "sourceUrl": "https://www.p65warnings.ca.gov/",
        "fixHint": "Remove the claim, or state factually which listed chemicals the product was tested for."
      },
      {
        "ruleId": "signal_word_missing",
        "severity": "high",
        "message": "The warning doesn't start with the signal word 'WARNING' (or 'CA WARNING' / 'CALIFORNIA WARNING') in capital letters, as safe-harbor content requires (27 CCR 25603). Bold can't be checked from text.",
        "quote": "Example BPA-free water bottle\nLead-free paint, BPA free. Prop 65 compliant.\n",
        "sourceUrl": "https://www.law.cornell.edu/regulations/california/27-CCR-25603",
        "fixHint": "Begin with 'WARNING:' in capital letters and bold."
      },
      {
        "...": "2 more findings: p65_url_missing 'Example BPA-free water bottle\nLead-free paint, BPA free. Prop 65 compliant.\n', endpoint_missing 'Example BPA-free water bottle\nLead-free paint, BPA free. Prop 65 compliant.\n'"
      }
    ],
    "url": null,
    "checkedAt": "2026-11-01T19:35:05+00:00",
    "disclaimer": "Automated keyword screening of the listing text supplied against California's Proposition..."
  },
  {
    "itemNo": 4,
    "productId": "EXAMPLE-CORD",
    "title": "Example vinyl extension cord",
    "warningFound": true,
    "warningText": "WARNING: This product can expose you to chemicals including DEHP, which is known to the State of California to cause cancer and birth defects or other reproductive harm. For more information go to www.P65Warnings.ca.gov.",
    "chemicalsMentioned": [],
    "chemicalsNamedInWarning": [
      "DEHP"
    ],
    "riskLevel": "none found",
    "issueCount": 0,
    "categoriesFlagged": [],
    "issues": [],
    "url": null,
    "checkedAt": "2026-11-01T19:35:05+00:00",
    "disclaimer": "Automated keyword screening of the listing text supplied against California's Proposition..."
  }
]

How much does it cost to check listings for Prop 65 warnings?

This Actor uses pay-per-event pricing: $0.002 per product saved plus a $0.00005 start fee per run, plus small platform usage paid by you (a few hundredths of a cent for small runs). That's about $2.00 for 1,000 products and $20.00 for 10,000 plus usage. With Only save rows with findings on, rows without findings aren't saved or charged. You can set a maximum cost per run in the run options.

Use it through the API, integrations or AI agents

• Run it and get results in one call: https://api.apify.com/v2/acts/ultimatemc~prop65-warning-checker/run-sync-get-dataset-items
• Use it from AI agents through the Apify MCP server: https://mcp.apify.com?tools=ultimatemc/prop65-warning-checker
• Schedule it after a daily scraper run, send flagged rows to Slack or email with webhooks, or connect it to Make, Zapier, n8n or Google Sheets.
• Chain it after any product scraper by passing the scraper's dataset ID.

How it works

Checks are deterministic rules written from the safe-harbor warning regulations (27 CCR 25602 and 25603), OEHHA's guidance and the Proposition 65 chemical list, checked on 2026-11-01. Warning text is found in warning fields or in the listing text, chemical names are matched with context so common false friends (dog leads, lead time) are skipped. No AI and no external calls.

Sources:

• OEHHA: The Proposition 65 List
• OEHHA: Clear and Reasonable Warnings, safe harbor methods and content
• 27 CCR 25602, Consumer product exposure warnings (LII)
• 27 CCR 25603, Warning content (LII)
• P65Warnings.ca.gov

FAQ

Does every product need a Prop 65 warning?

No. A warning is needed when a business with 10 or more employees knowingly exposes Californians to a listed chemical above safe-harbor levels. The checker can't measure exposure; it flags text gaps for you to review.

Why is my old short-form warning flagged?

Since January 1, 2025 the short form must name at least one listed chemical. Products labelled before then can be sold until January 1, 2028, so the finding is medium, not high.

Does it flag 'lead' in 'dog lead'?

No. Lead is only counted next to metal context such as 'contains lead', 'lead-based' or 'lead solder'.

Where must an online warning appear?

On the product page, through a clearly marked 'WARNING' link, or otherwise before purchase (27 CCR 25602(b)). The checker reads the text you supply from those places.

Is it AI?

No. It's a fixed set of rules, so the same input always gives the same result.

Limitations

• It reads text only; it can't see warning images or check whether the warning is shown before purchase.
• The chemical list in the checker covers common consumer-product chemicals, not all 900+ on the OEHHA list.
• Food, furniture and other special warning categories have extra rules that are only partly covered.

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Found a false positive? Open an issue on the Issues tab with the listing text and what you expected, and we'll review the rule.