PFAS in Consumer Products: State Legislative Activity Summer Roundup

The amount of activity regarding the regulation of per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) in consumer products and packaging is dizzying, and the summer of 2024 offered no reprieve for industry.

The Colorado legislature passed legislation to restrict PFAS in several products. As of January 1, 2026, the sale of cookware, dental floss, menstruation products, and ski wax with intentionally added PFAS will be prohibited. As of January 1, 2028, the sale of the following products with intentionally added PFAS will be prohibited: textile articles, outdoor apparel for severe wet conditions, and food equipment intended primarily for use in commercial settings that comes into direct contact with food. The new law also prohibits the installation of artificial turf containing intentionally added PFAS beginning on January 1, 2026.

The Connecticut state legislature has passed a bill regulating the use of PFAS in certain household products and textiles. Starting January 1, 2026, the bill requires written disclosures about the existence of intentionally added PFAS for all outdoor apparel designed for severe wet conditions and turnout gear used by firefighters and emergency personnel. By July 1, 2026, all “apparel, carpets or rugs, cleaning products, cookware, cosmetics, dental floss, fabric treatments, children’s products, menstruation products, ski wax, textile furnishings, and upholstered furniture” with intentionally added PFAS must include a label notifying consumers about the presence of the chemicals. Additionally, manufacturers of such products must provide prior written notice to the U.S. Department of Energy and U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) about the use of PFAS. After January 1, 2028, intentionally added PFAS will be banned from these product categories.

Maine substantially changed the prohibitions in its groundbreaking 2021 legislation, the PFAS in Products Law, to eliminate the broad-based reporting requirement and instead requires manufacturers who intentionally incorporate PFAS into their products to report this to the U.S. Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) beginning January 1, 2025. The amendment also incrementally restricts the sale of specific products containing intentionally added PFAS, phasing them out over time according to the following schedule:

• January 1, 2026: cleaning products, cookware, cosmetics, dental floss, juvenile products, menstruation products, ski wax, upholstered furniture, and most textiles
• January 1, 2029: artificial turf and outdoor apparel for wet weather (unless the apparel includes a disclosure)
• January 1, 2032: all other products, except for refrigeration, cooling and heating, ventilation, and air conditioning equipment
• January 1, 2040: refrigeration, cooling and heating, ventilation, and air conditioning equipment

The amendment prohibits the sale of all intentionally added PFAS-containing products beginning in 2030, with limited product exceptions where DEP determines that the use of PFAS in the product is a “currently unavoidable use.” Where DEP has made the determination that the use of PFAS in a specific product is a “currently unavoidable use” and therefore presently exempt from the otherwise applicable prohibition, the exemption is limited to either five years from the effective date of the DEP rule determination or five years from the effective date of the otherwise applicable prohibition, whichever is longer.

The recent amendments also exclude certain categories of products from the scope of the statute’s notification requirements and prohibitions, including: medical devices, drugs, etc. regulated by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA); veterinary products regulated by the FDA, U.S. Department of Agriculture, or EPA; products developed for public health, environmental, or water quality testing; products required to meet standards or requirements of the U.S. Department of Transportation, Federal Aviation Administration, National Aeronautics and Space Administration, U.S. Department of Defense, or U.S. Department of Homeland Security; motor vehicles, motor vehicle equipment, and watercraft; and semiconductors and certain other laboratory equipment and non-consumer electronics.

The Pollution Control Agency of Minnesota (MPCA) announced that it is targeting the fall of 2025 to begin “beta testing” its reporting database for use by manufacturers of PFAS-containing products. A full launch of the reporting system would be completed by the end of 2025, if all goes as planned. When completed, the reporting system is intended for use when manufacturers submit data in response to the Minnesota law that prohibits the sale of textiles and many household and certain other products containing PFAS beginning next year. The statute requires that PFAS-containing products that are not prohibited sooner be prohibited from distribution in the state beginning January 1, 2032, unless uses of PFAS in a product has been determined by MPCA to be “currently unavoidable.”

As anticipated, Vermont Governor Phil Scott signed into law a bill that bans the production, sale, or distribution of numerous products that are made with intentionally added PFAS. The ban on intentionally added PFAS in certain products, including the following, takes effect on January 1, 2026: aftermarket stain and water-resistant treatments; cookware; cosmetics; incontinency protection products; juvenile products; menstrual products; rugs and carpet; textiles and textile articles; and food packaging.

For more information on these developments, and for additional information on issues affecting the chemical industry, please see Arnold & Porter’s most recent edition of The Chemical Compound.

© Arnold & Porter Kaye Scholer LLP 2024 All Rights Reserved. This Blog post is intended to be a general summary of the law and does not constitute legal advice. You should consult with counsel to determine applicable legal requirements in a specific fact situation.