California Attorney General (AG) Jerry Brown and Deputy Attorney General Ed Weil contacted Proposition 65 plaintiff's attorney Cliff Chanler in May to question the "manner in which (Chanler and his clients had) pursued Proposition 65 matters concerning lead in the surface coatings of glassware and ceramicware." The Society of Glass and Ceramic Decorators (SGCD) contacted AG Brown to express support for his efforts and to ask him to carefully review how Proposition 65 warning threshold standards are effectively established for an industry as part of private opt-in settlement negotiations.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) issued a final burden reduction rule in December 2006 that enables Toxic Release Inventory (TRI) filers to use the simplified Form A (instead of the more complicated Form R) to report annual usage of lead and lead compounds in certain instances. This modest paperwork reduction effort has been targeted by some environmental groups, and legislation has been introduced in the U.S. House of Representatives and Senate that would reverse the EPA rule.

The Toxics in Packaging Clearinghouse (TPCH) sent letters in mid-2006 to six beverage distributors asking them to confirm compliance with the group's model packaging law that bans the intentional addition of four metals, including lead and cadmium, to packaging.

Although there is no official state warning threshold for non-food contact surfaces of glass and ceramicware, Proposition 65 warnings are an option for companies that want to establish a defense against allegations that ware exposes consumers in California to lead or cadmium.

Decorators must continue to capitalize on new design trends while maximizing their businesses around core products to survive.

To achieve innovative container designs, companies are increasingly using custom bottle designs, embossing, precious metals, organic sprays, color-change inks and other decorative applications.

SGCD's 2001 decorating survey indicated that decorators faced economic problems that were similar to those faced by other manufacturing concerns nationwide.

In the midst of the recent national patriotic outpouring, many decorators have noticed a related surge in orders for glass and ceramicware that features the American flag, an eagle, the pledge of allegiance, patriotic slogans or similar patterns.

The collectible market remains important to many glass and ceramic decorators even though overall economic conditions have increased competitive pressures.

An industry coalition, which includes the Society of Glass and Ceramic Decorators (SGCD), filed suit in April against the EPA alleging, among other things, that the agency failed to follow proper rulemaking procedures when issuing the Pb TRI rule.