Minnesota lawmakers, advocates celebrate deal to ban PFAS in consumer products
ST. PAUL, Minn. -- Minnesota is nearing a future without so-called forever chemicals PFAS in consumer products, after key lawmakers in both chambers of the legislature agreed to include in a budget proposal language banning them.
"This piece of legislation, when it passes and is signed by the governor, will be a big new day in Minnesota, it will be a legacy for clean water in the state of Minnesota but also for public health," said Rep. Jeff Brand, DFL-St. Peter.
During a news conference Tuesday, lawmakers and advocates celebrated the deal, which a conference committee agreed to when sorting out differences on an environment omnibus bill. It would ban non-essential use of PFAS in cookware, cosmetics, cleaning products and more starting in 2025. The bill also includes funding to help clean up water and remove PFAS from it.
Among the people praising the step: the family of Amara Strande, who died last month of a rare liver cancer possibly linked to the chemicals, which contaminated drinking water in the east metro where she grew up.
This session, she showed up again and again at committee meetings at the Capitol to speak out and demand lawmakers pass the bill banning PFAS with the hope she'd spare others the suffering she experienced over the last few years. WCCO spoke to her about her journey in January.
"Amara wanted to do whatever she could – whatever strength she could call up, whatever needed to be said -- to make her community a safe place to live," said her father, Michael Strande. "Amara was willing to do whatever it takes to prevent other people from having to face a disease like her own."
Lawmakers credited Strande's advocacy with the getting the bill to where it is today on the brink of passage. The legislation will be named in her honor, Brand said.
PFAS, which are used in manufacturing, have been found in water, soil and fish across the state and can be harmful to public health because they are hard to break down. Studies show exposure to some of the chemicals can increase a person's risk of cancer.
Amara's mother Dana said the family hopes to determine the type of PFAS Amara might have had in her system through testing to determine a correlation to chemical exposure in the area where they lived. She said "many people" in the neighborhood have battled cancer or other illness.
"I will do all I can to protect mothers from the pain and the despair that I experienced in the loss of Amara," Dana Strande said.
The proposal will also phase out use of PFAS in firefighting foam. It empowers the commissioner of Minnesota Pollution Control Agency to ban the chemicals from other products, too, through the rulemaking process.
Supporters say the move will make Minnesota laws on PFAS the strongest in the nation. Five states have passed similar measures and others will follow suit this summer, according to one analysis.
Other efforts to pass bans have failed in previous legislative sessions, but now there's bipartisan support.
When asked what changed, Sen. Jim Abeler, R-Anoka, said: "In a word, Amara."