State and local lawmakers banning PFAS
According to Safer States, a national alliance of environmental health organizations, 30 states have adopted policies restricting PFAS in some form and 15 states banned the use of PFAS in firefighting foam. Massachusetts and Connecticut recently passed bills and enhanced their laws to ban toxic PFAS in many products, including firefighting foam. The Connecticut Legislature had already banned PFAS in firefighters’ personal protective equipment (PPE). By May 2024, Colorado, Vermont and San Francisco passed legislation to ban more forms of PFAS chemicals. And Colorado signed into law a ban on PFAS in firefighting foam a few years ago. (Connecticut's PPE ban takes effect in July 2026.)
The Austin City Council is also stepping up to the plate. “For years, firefighters have been exposed to these PFAS chemicals and didn't know it," Bob Nicks, president of the Austin Firefighters Association, told Fox 7 last month. "Now it's kind of becoming an emerging problem where we're starting to understand a little better of the issues, and we're trying to mitigate that." So too has Prince George County. "As a firefighter, it's scary to think that for years I wore something that potentially could years later, cause me to have cancer," Prince George's County Fire Chief Tiffany Green told The National Desk earlier this month. And Fox 7 in July heard from Bob Nicks, president of the Austin Firefighters Association. “For years, firefighters have been exposed to these PFAS chemicals and didn't know it…Now it's kind of becoming an emerging problem where we're starting to understand a little better of the issues, and we're trying to mitigate that."
Prince George is one of only five departments in the US and Canada selected to test prototype gear made without PFAS. The cities are:
- Denver, Colorado
- Miami, Florida
- Prince George’s County, Maryland
- San Francisco, California
- Ottawa, Ontario, Canada
The Canadian federal government is working on banning “forever chemicals” in firefighter turn-out gear, but the challenge is Identifying safe and effective PFAS-free materials. In September 2021, the National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) council voted to keep PFAS in turnout gear.
PFAS Firefighting Gear Opposition
Scientists released a study in 2022 that showed firefighter’s PPE loaded with PFAS. (That study followed a 2020 publication by the American Chemical Society-- a trade association for chemical companies, which opposed the Massachusetts law-- that showed similar results.)
Firefighting gear has three layers and all three layers of the standard protective gear tested for high levels of the chemicals. PFAS is commonly found in the outer shell and the moisture barrier. The outer shell repels water and oil and protects from sharp objects, heat and direct flame. The middle layer, which is the moisture barrier, keeps hazardous liquid materials-- including common chemicals and bloodborne pathogens, both of which are typically present during firefighting duties-- away from a firefighter's skin. Vapor can pass through this layer, so steam doesn't accumulate and burn the emergency responders.
A study published in 2023 by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) found that increased exposure to PFAS among firefighters, including through protective gear, could increase their risk of cancer. Of course, firefighters don’t want their gear loaded with carcinogenic chemicals and alternatives have been introduced, but there are roadblocks, from both political and the industrial sector.
For instance, the National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) council voted in September 2021 to keep PFAS in turnout gear. The International Association of Fire Fighters (IAFF) filed an appeal to the NFPA Standards Council to remove the requirement for the moisture barrier in turnout gear, to withstand 40 hours of UV light as this required the gear to be manifested with PFAS to perform to that standard.
(A provision in NFPA 1971 requires certain components of fire fighter bunker gear to pass the Ultraviolet Light Degradation Test. The test requires turnout gear to be exposed to UV light for 40 hours without degradation. The only substance that can pass the test for that long is PFAS. The complaint, International Association of Fire Fighters v. National Fire Protection Association, Inc., seeks to hold the NFPA liable for not removing the dangerous test from its Standard on Protective Ensembles for Structural Fire Fighting and Proximity Fire Fighting.)
NFPA stated that further review to understand how removing the testing requirement would impact the middle layer is necessary.
The IAFF continues to believe that [the degradation of the moisture barrier] may pose a significant safety hazard to fire fighters. The inclusion of the UV light degradation test as a means to ensure the integrity of the moisture barrier was in direct response to this safety concern for tactical firefighting and emergency response, reports The National Desk.
In 2023, the Washington Post reported that 195 new bills were introduced in dozens of state legislatures, seeking to require that an expanding list of products be PFAS-free. Some states have set deadlines that require all or most products made or sold in their states to be PFAS-free. But the chemical industry argues that the tide of new legislation is a gross overreaction and that the majority of PFAS chemicals are safe.
The American Chemistry Council in 2023 said at least two of the PFAS substances could be problematic at high levels. On the other hand, it argues that the vast majority of the 5,000-plus chemicals are safe and that states are going too far by banning or restricting all of them. It also said the laws could block production of important products, such as semiconductors and medical devices.