Prenatal vitamins.

Senator Weber Pierson's prenatal vitamin safety legislation extends California's toxic element testing requirements from baby food to prenatal supplements, establishing new protocols for manufacturers starting January 2027. The measure requires monthly laboratory testing of prenatal vitamin production batches for arsenic, cadmium, lead, and mercury levels.

Under the proposed requirements, manufacturers must test representative samples from each production batch at laboratories accredited to ISO/IEC 17025:2017 standards. The testing facilities must demonstrate capability to detect toxic elements at concentrations as low as six micrograms per kilogram. Manufacturers must publish test results on their websites for the duration of each product's shelf life plus one month and include QR codes on product labels linking consumers to both the test data and FDA guidance on toxic elements' health effects during pregnancy and breastfeeding.

The bill prohibits the sale or distribution of prenatal vitamins that do not meet these standards in California. While the measure creates new misdemeanor violations for non-compliance, it specifies that local agencies will not receive state reimbursement for enforcement costs. The requirements mirror existing protocols for baby food manufacturers, though prenatal vitamin testing would not be contingent on FDA establishing regulatory limits for toxic elements.