California Proposition 65 warnings for health products sold online by practices and health companies

A dermatology practice sells sunscreen and serums through its website. A functional medicine clinic ships a house-brand supplement line to patients across the country. A device startup sells a home-use product direct to consumers. If any of those orders goes to California, the seller should know Proposition 65, the state law that requires a warning before a business exposes someone to a chemical the state lists as causing cancer or reproductive harm.

This guide reads the law and its warning regulations as they apply to health products sold online by practices and health companies: who is responsible for the warning, the safe harbor wording, where it goes on a product page, the separate rules for supplements as food, and what changes for short-form labels before 2028. It does not tell you whether your product needs a warning; that depends on testing and exposure facts the regulations leave to the business. Related guides: private-label supplements and skincare, selling supplements in a medical practice and the mail order rule for health products. Seller disclosures, listing claims and reviews on third-party platforms are covered in selling health products on online marketplaces.

The short version

• The rule. No person in the course of doing business may knowingly and intentionally expose an individual to a listed chemical without first giving a clear and reasonable warning, except as the law exempts (Health and Safety Code 25249.6).
• Small businesses are outside it. A person in the course of doing business does not include a business employing fewer than 10 employees (25249.11(b)).
• Your own brand makes you responsible. A retail seller is responsible for the warning when it sells a product under a brand or trademark it owns or licenses (27 CCR 25600.2(e)(1)). That is the private-label case.
• Online, the warning goes on the product page or before checkout. 27 CCR 25602(b) allows a warning on the product display page, a clearly marked WARNING link on that page, or a prominently displayed warning before the purchase is completed.
• Supplements are food here. Food includes dietary supplements (25600.1(g)), and food warnings use their own wording in 25607.2.
• Short-form labels change by 2028. The older short form, which pairs the word Cancer or Reproductive Harm with the website address and names no chemical, is allowed only on products manufactured and labeled before January 1, 2028 (25603(c)); the new short form names a chemical (25603(b)).

Who has to give a warning

Proposition 65 applies to a “person in the course of doing business” (Health and Safety Code 25249.6). Section 25249.11(b) says that term does not include a person employing fewer than 10 employees in the business, or government agencies and public water systems. A solo practice with a small team may therefore be outside the warning duty, while a group practice or a product company with 10 or more employees is not. The text counts employees in the business; how that applies to affiliated entities or management companies is a question for your counsel.

The regulations then divide responsibility along the supply chain. Under 27 CCR 25600.2(b), the manufacturer, producer, packager, importer, supplier or distributor may comply either by putting a warning on the product label or labeling, or by giving written notice to the business it sells to, with the warning materials, including warning language for products sold on the internet. That notice must identify the product, be renewed every year while the product is sold in California, and be confirmed as received (25600.2(b), (c)). Once a retail seller receives those materials, it is responsible for placing and maintaining them, including for internet sales (25600.2(d)).

A retail seller means a business that sells consumer products directly to consumers by any means, including the internet, and includes the retail functions of a business that is mainly devoted to something else (25600.1(l)). A practice selling products from its front desk or website fits that description for those sales.

When the retail seller is responsible

27 CCR 25600.2(e) lists when the retail seller itself must provide the warning. For practices and health companies, the cases that matter are:

• Private label. The product is sold under a brand or trademark owned or licensed by the retail seller or an affiliated entity (25600.2(e)(1)). A practice-branded supplement or skincare line falls here, whoever makes it.
• You changed the product. The retail seller knowingly introduced a listed chemical into the product or caused one to be created in it (25600.2(e)(2)). Compounding or repackaging at the practice deserves a look under this point.
• You covered the label. The retail seller covered, obscured or altered a warning label the supplier affixed (25600.2(e)(3)), for example with a practice sticker.
• You received the materials and did not post them. The supplier sent notice and warning materials and the retail seller sold the product without conspicuously posting or displaying the warning (25600.2(e)(4)), including on its website.
• No one upstream is reachable. The retail seller actually knows of the exposure and no supplier in the chain is a covered business with an agent for service of process or a place of business in California (25600.2(e)(5)). Importing products directly is the usual route into this case.

Parties may also agree in writing how to allocate responsibility for the warning, so long as the consumer receives a compliant warning before exposure (25600.2(i)). A private-label manufacturing agreement is the natural place to settle who tests, who decides and who supplies label and web text. Our guide to private-label supplements and skincare covers the federal labeling side of the same products.

The safe harbor warning for consumer products

The regulations set out “safe harbor” content and methods that the lead agency has determined to be clear and reasonable (27 CCR 25600(a)). Other content or methods may still comply with the statute (25600(f)), but the safe harbor is the content and method the lead agency has already deemed clear and reasonable. A full warning for a consumer product under 25603(a) has:

• A symbol: a black exclamation point in a yellow equilateral triangle with a bold black outline, placed left of the text and no smaller than the height of the word WARNING. It may be black and white where the sign or label is not printed in yellow (25603(a)(1)).
• The word “WARNING:”, “CA WARNING:” or “CALIFORNIA WARNING:” in capitals and bold (25603(a)(2)).
• For a carcinogen, the sentence: “This product can expose you to chemicals including [name of one or more chemicals], which is [are] known to the State of California to cause cancer. For more information go to www.P65Warnings.ca.gov.” Parallel sentences cover reproductive toxicants, both, and a chemical listed as both (25603(a)(2)(A) to (D)). For a single chemical, “chemicals including” may be dropped (25603(a)(2)(E)).

A short-form warning may be used on the label (25602(a)(4)), in type no smaller than 6-point. Under 25603(b) it has the symbol, the signal word and one of the listed sentences that name the chemical, for example “Can expose you to [name of chemical], a carcinogen. See www.P65Warnings.ca.gov.” Note that the full and short forms name at least one chemical, so the business needs to know which chemical drives the warning.

Where the warning goes on a website

For internet purchases, 27 CCR 25602(b)(1) says the warning must meet the content rules in 25603 and be provided by one or more of these methods:

1. On the product display page. The warning text appears on the page for that product (25602(b)(1)(A)).
2. A clearly marked link on that page. A hyperlink using the word “WARNING”, “CA WARNING” or “CALIFORNIA WARNING” on the product display page that links to the warning (25602(b)(1)(B)). A link labeled “Prop 65” or “More info” does not match that wording.
3. Before the purchase is completed. An otherwise prominently displayed warning given to the purchaser before checkout is completed (25602(b)(1)(C)). The rule says a warning is not prominently displayed if the purchaser must search for it in the general content of the website, so a footer link or a terms page does not qualify.

If the product label uses the short form, the website may use the same short-form content (25602(b)(1)). Where the product’s sign, label or labeling gives consumer information in a language other than English, the warning must also appear in that language (25602(d)). For a printed catalog, the warning must be in the catalog and clearly associated with the item (25602(c)). Online warnings belong in the same review as the rest of your product page; our guide to the mail order rule for health products covers the shipping promises on the same page.

Two practical points for a practice website. First, add the warning per product, not site-wide; the methods above are tied to the product display page or the purchase of that product. Second, if products are sold through a booking tool, a patient portal or a third-party storefront, check that the warning appears there too, since the warning goes with each internet purchase.

Supplements and other food products

For these regulations, food has the meaning in Health and Safety Code 109935 and includes dietary supplements (27 CCR 25600.1(g)). Food warnings follow 25607.1 and 25607.2 instead of 25603:

• The methods are the same as for other consumer products, including the internet methods in 25602 (25607.1(a)).
• On a food label the warning must be set off from surrounding information and enclosed in a box (25607.1(b)).
• The full text begins “Consuming this product can expose you to chemicals including [name]” and points to www.P65Warnings.ca.gov/food (25607.2(a)). The elements listed in 25607.2(a) are the signal word and the sentence; the triangle symbol in 25603(a)(1) is not among them.
• A short form for food labels names the chemical and points to the /food address (25607.2(b)).

Ingestible products such as protein powders, greens blends and capsules sold by practices fall under the food rules when they are food or dietary supplements. Topical skincare and devices follow the consumer product rules above. Our guide to selling supplements in a medical practice covers the federal and professional questions about selling them at all.

Short-form labels and the 2028 date

The regulations keep an older short form for a transition period. Under 27 CCR 25603(c), a product manufactured and labeled before January 1, 2028 may carry the older short form, regardless of when it is sold: the symbol, “WARNING:” and the word Cancer, the words Reproductive Harm, or both, followed by the www.P65Warnings.ca.gov address, with no chemical named. Products manufactured and labeled from that date use the new short form in 25603(b), which names a chemical.

For internet sales made before January 1, 2028, a retail seller is not responsible under 25600.2(e)(4) for posting the updated online warning until 60 calendar days after it receives a supplier’s warning or notice that updates an old short form to the new content (25602(b)(2)). If you sell a supplier’s product, keep a log of when each updated notice arrives so the product pages can be changed within that window. If you sell your own brand, plan the label change and the web text change together before 2028.

What a warning claim is not

A Prop 65 warning is a legal notice, not a marketing message. Two points follow for product pages and ads:

• Do not reword the safe harbor text to soften it, for example by adding “but this product is safe” in the warning box. The safe harbor protects the specified content; changing it means relying on the general statute instead (27 CCR 25600(f)).
• Do not claim a product is “Prop 65 compliant” or “free of Prop 65 chemicals” without test results that support the exact claim. Those are product claims and need support like any other claim. Our guide to natural, organic and eco-friendly claims covers similar label claims.

Enforcement

The statute allows a court to enjoin a violation or a threatened violation, and sets a civil penalty of up to $2,500 per day for each violation, with factors the court must weigh, including good faith efforts to comply (Health and Safety Code 25249.7(a), (b)). Actions may be brought by the Attorney General, district attorneys and certain city attorneys and prosecutors (25249.7(c)), or by a person in the public interest after giving 60 days’ notice of the alleged violation, with a certificate of merit, to the alleged violator and public prosecutors (25249.7(d)(1)). We do not give figures on how often notices are filed against health products, because we did not read a source for them.

The statute exempts exposures where federal law governs the warning in a way that preempts state authority, exposures within 12 months after a chemical is listed, and exposures the business can show pose no significant risk (or, for reproductive toxicants, no observable effect at 1,000 times the level), with the burden of showing the last one on the defendant (25249.10). Whether any of these applies to a product is a testing and legal question for the manufacturer and counsel.

An illustration

This is a made-up example, not a client. A 14-employee integrative clinic sells a practice-branded greens powder and a supplier’s mineral sunscreen on its website, shipping nationwide. The supplier sent an annual Prop 65 notice for the sunscreen with web warning text. The clinic posted it on a single “Product safety” page linked from the footer. No one had decided about the greens powder.

The fix: the clinic counts its employees and confirms it is over the threshold in 25249.11(b). For the sunscreen, the supplier’s warning moves onto the product page, using a link labeled “CALIFORNIA WARNING” next to the price, and the clinic files the notice and sets a reminder for the annual renewal. For the greens powder, the clinic is the brand owner under 25600.2(e)(1), so it asks the contract manufacturer for test data and has counsel decide whether a warning is needed. If one is, the label carries the boxed food warning with the chemical named, the product page repeats it, and the manufacturing agreement is amended to say who updates both. The footer page stays as general information, not as the warning.

Checklist

• Employee count checked against the 10-employee line in Health and Safety Code 25249.11(b).
• Each product sorted: own brand (25600.2(e)(1)), changed or relabeled (e)(2), (e)(3), supplier-warned (e)(4), or imported with no reachable supplier (e)(5).
• Supplier notices filed, receipts confirmed and annual renewals tracked (25600.2(b), (c)).
• Warnings on the product display page, a link marked WARNING, CA WARNING or CALIFORNIA WARNING, or a prominent pre-checkout warning (27 CCR 25602(b)(1)).
• Supplements use the food wording and /food address, boxed on the label (25607.1, 25607.2).
• Short-form labels plan for products manufactured and labeled from January 1, 2028 (25603(b), (c)), with updates posted within 60 days of supplier notice (25602(b)(2)).
• Non-English product information carries the warning in that language too (25602(d)).
• No softened warning text and no unsupported “Prop 65 free” claims.

How we help

We build product pages and online stores for practices and health companies as part of website design, search and lead generation work, and we place the warning text your manufacturer or counsel supplies where the regulations say it goes. We do not decide whether a product needs a warning, and we are not a law firm. Related guides: marketing during a product recall and our guide to healthcare marketing rules.

Sources

• California Health and Safety Code 25249.6: Required warning before exposure
• California Health and Safety Code 25249.7: Enforcement
• California Health and Safety Code 25249.10: Exemptions from warning requirement
• California Health and Safety Code 25249.11: Definitions
• 27 CCR 25600.2: Responsibility to provide consumer product exposure warnings
• 27 CCR 25602: Consumer product exposure warnings, methods of transmission
• 27 CCR 25603: Consumer product exposure warnings, content
• 27 CCR 25607.2: Food exposure warnings, content

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