The state, Ragen said, is negotiating with the three companies and is optimistic that a legal settlement can be reached that requires the products to be reformulated so that no lead is used in the manufacturing.
Most companies targeted by Proposition 65, known as the Safe Drinking Water and Toxic Enforcement Act of 1986, are eager to change their products rather than be forced to sell them with a warning that they contain chemicals "known to the state of California" to cause cancer or birth defects.
"The bottom line is this is 2008. Why are you making something with lead deliberately put into it?" Ragen said. "You need to find some substitute to make the color stable."
Beaulieu attorney Peter Farley says he hopes to reach a friendly settlement with California. He stressed, however, that his company makes only an indoor-outdoor type of product and does not sell artificial turf used on athletic fields and stadiums.
The state decided to take action against the three companies after it received a legal notice from an advocacy group, the Oakland-based Center for Environmental Health, that it intended to file a private lawsuit on the lead warning issue against Beaulieu and other artificial-turf manufacturers.
"Our testing on products from dozens of companies shows that artificial turf can contain high amounts of lead that can easily come off onto children's hands when they play on turf fields," said Michael Green, the center's executive director.
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marc.lifsher@latimes.com
