Thirty-two years ago, a major California newspaper urged Californians to vote “no” on a ballot initiative commonly referred to as “Prop 65,” which would require certain businesses to include warning labels on products that contained a compound known to the State of California to cause cancer, birth defects or reproductive harm. However, the editorial board dismissed what it viewed as “exaggerated” claims by other opponents of Prop 65, reassuring voters that even if the measure passed, it would “not lead to the banning of ordinary table salt or require warning labels on every apple sold or cup of coffee served in California.” But last month, a California Superior Court judge ruled that businesses may have to do just that - require warning labels on cups of coffee served in California.

The complaint in the case, Council for Education and Research on Toxics v. Starbucks Corporation, et al., alleges that dozens of companies in the coffee business violated Prop 65 in failing to warn consumers that brewed coffee contains acrylamide, a substance believed to be a carcinogen by the State of California. Defendants in the case were previously unsuccessful in persuading the court that Prop 65’s warning requirements were unnecessary because the alleged acrylamide exposure posed “no significant risk.”