The Nickel Report

As states across the country develop laws addressing per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS), a patchwork of requirements has begun to emerge, creating challenges for those who manufacture, distribute, and sell products around the country. In 2023, over 200 bills were introduced addressing PFAS, including restrictions for PFAS in products. This trend is expected to continue.

Within the past few years, a dozen states have passed laws that specifically require reporting or disclosures or ban certain products containing PFAS such as food packaging, cookware, textiles, cosmetics, furniture, and children’s products. State legislatures have articulated concerns with health effects of PFAS and perceived harmful exposures to consumers, workers, and the environment stemming from these products. Notably, Maine and Minnesota have enacted broad reporting requirements and follow-on bans for all products containing intentionally added PFAS. While each state’s requirements differ to some degree, states have been uniform in their adoption of the same sweeping definition of PFAS: a class of fluorinated organic chemicals containing at least one fully fluorinated carbon atom.

The sheer scope of these state laws have subjected potentially millions of products currently sold or distributed in states to various labeling, disclosure, and reporting requirements or bans, creating challenges for companies in ascertaining which of their products are impacted, where those products are impacted, and how to gather the information they need to determine if PFAS are in their products. Hunton Andrews Kurth LLP has created a tool to help companies track these emerging state requirements for products containing PFAS.

Yesterday, HuntonAK released a publicly accessible tracker for State Bans and Reporting Requirements for Products Containing PFAS (PFAS in Products State Law Tracker), an interactive platform that offers a visualization of PFAS statutory and regulatory actions on a state-by-state basis. The tracker includes a sortable data set, updated regularly, that serves as a research tool for identifying trends and provides high-level, general information about each state’s restrictions on PFAS-containing products. The tracker allows for filters based on state, type of product, compliance date, and type of regulation (ban, reporting, or disclosure law). The map shows currently enacted laws and not proposed laws or guidance.

For more information, please visit HuntonAK’s PFAS in Products State Law Tracker.