Prop 65 warning label generator: full and short-form text (2026)

California requires a clear and reasonable warning before a business exposes people to a chemical on the Proposition 65 list. Pick the product type, enter the chemicals and how the list gives them, and the generator writes the safe-harbor warnings of 27 CCR 25603 in English: the full warning, both short-form wordings with the chemical name that labels need from 2028, and the old short form, plus the symbol as an SVG file.

Checked against the sources on 25 October 2026

Your warnings

Choose the product type and enter at least one chemical with how it is listed. The warnings appear here.

Warning symbol

Place it left of the warning text, at least as tall as the word WARNING. Black and white is allowed when the label is not printed in yellow.

The warnings are in English, word for word from 27 CCR 25603. Labels that carry consumer information in another language need the warning in that language too (25602(d)). Whether a warning is needed, and which chemicals your product exposes people to, is for you to establish. Not legal advice.

US CPC kit: for children's products sold in the US, the Children's Product Certificate for each product (paid).

Who has to warn

Proposition 65 (Health and Safety Code section 25249.6) forbids a business to knowingly and intentionally expose anyone to a listed chemical without first giving a clear and reasonable warning, except as section 25249.10 provides. Businesses with fewer than 10 employees are outside it (section 25249.11(b)).

For a product, the duty sits first with the manufacturer, producer, packager, importer, supplier or distributor: either the warning on the label or labeling, or a written notice with the warning materials to the retail seller's authorized agent, renewed every year (27 CCR 25600.2(b)). The retail seller puts up the warnings it receives (25600.2(d)) and is responsible itself only in the cases of 25600.2(e), for example products under its own brand.

Full warning or short form

The full warning of 25603(a) names one or more chemicals for each harm, cancer or reproductive toxicity, unless the chemical named is listed for both and the warning says so (25601(b)). It can go on the label or labeling, a sign or shelf tag, a product page or a catalog. The short form of 25603(b) is for the product label only, in type no smaller than 6 points (25602(a)(4)), and names one chemical per harm.

The amendment in force since 1 January 2025 added the chemical name to the short form. The old wording of 25603(c), such as “Cancer -- www.P65Warnings.ca.gov.”, may stay on products manufactured and labeled before 1 January 2028, whenever they are sold; labels from that date need the full warning or the new short form.

Online shops and catalogs

For internet sales the warning goes on the product display page, behind a clearly marked hyperlink using the word WARNING (or CA WARNING, CALIFORNIA WARNING) on that page, or is otherwise shown prominently before the purchase is completed (25602(b)). A catalog shows the full warning so that it is clearly linked to the item (25602(c)). Where the label carries the short form, the website and the catalog may use the same text.

Products with their own warning

Food and dietary supplements, alcoholic beverages, furniture, passenger and off-highway vehicles and their parts, recreational vessels and their parts, diesel-engine equipment, raw wood products, cannabis and THC products, glyphosate products, prescription drugs and a few others have their own warning in 27 CCR 25607.1 and after, and that warning must be used (25607(a)). The generator stops for them and names the section. Warnings for workplaces, premises and environmental exposures are not covered.

Other languages

If the label, labeling or sign gives consumer information in another language, the warning must also be given in that language, in addition to English (25602(d)). OEHHA publishes sample translations on P65Warnings.ca.gov.

Selling children's products in the United States? The Children's Product Certificate kit writes the CPSC certificate for each product.

Nothing you type leaves your browser. The warnings are copied word for word from 27 CCR 25603 as published in the official California Code of Regulations (checked on 25 October 2026). Whether a product needs a warning, and for which chemicals, depends on the exposure and is for you to establish: this page does not test products. Not legal advice.