‘Forever chemicals’ found in waterways throughout Illinois. How are lawmakers responding?

Illinois lawmakers have taken steps to limit the use of PFAS, commonly known as forever chemicals, in firefighting foam. Now, one state senator is calling for its ban in everyday household products.

Through Senate Bill 2705, the sale and distribution of products such as carpets, cookware, food packaging and more containing intentionally added PFAS would no longer be allowed starting next year. By 2032, all products with PFAS, unless it is proven it cannot be made without it, would be banned.

The Illinois Department of Agriculture would also have to approve bans of pesticide, fertilizer, agricultural liming material, plant amendment, or soil containing them.

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State Sen. Laura Fine, D-Glenview, is leading the bill currently awaiting committee assignment. The intent behind the bill, she said is not to burden manufacturers but instead to produce environmentally-friendly products that are more cost-effective.

“We have seen the benefits of (PFAS) over the years,” she said during a recent interview. “But now we’re learning about the burdens of it and how it can be hazardous to not only the environment, but to human health as well.”

PFAS, or per-and polyfluoroalkyl substances, were introduced in the 1940s and used to resist heat, oil and water. It has earned the title of forever chemicals since they do not break down and remain in the soil, water and air for hundreds of thousands of years.

According to the Illinois Department of Public Health, high-level exposure to the chemicals have been linked to higher likelihood of kidney and testicular cancers, harm to immune and reproductive systems, disrupted hormone regulation and lower vaccine response in children.

In 2021, the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency studied the presence of PFAS in community drinking water supplies throughout the state. The study found more than 150 sites with confirmed detections— 70 entry points above health-based guidance levels and 82 detections above the minimum reporting limit but below the health-based guidance levels. There are no federal drinking water standards for PFAS in public water supplies.

The General Assembly took prior action in ending the manufacture and sales of firefighting foam with PFAS starting in 2025. Currently, the state is offering a take-back program over the course of the next five years for fire departments wishing to get rid of the foam. Fine said protocols are in-place to ensure disposal is done safely.

“We passed the program to take back that firefighting foam so that the communities wouldn’t be harmed financially as a result of it, and the firefighters would be safe,” she said, also the lead sponsor of that legislation. “Now we’re finding that in the firefighting clothing, there’s also PFAS. And that’s something else we have to take a look at.”

Lawmakers are also weighing legislation that would require manufacturers of intentionally added PFAS to register their products with the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency. Opponents, such as the Illinois Manufacturers’ Association, have said identifying these products would be challenging and implementation would be costly.

Bill sponsor state Rep. Anna Moeller, D-Elgin, said during a House Energy and Environment Committee meeting Tuesday that the bill is not ready for a full chamber vote. An amendment will be filed that would push back implementation from 2026 to 2027, she said.

Illinois Attorney General Kwame Raoul also filed a lawsuit against chemical manufacturers 3M and DowDuPont among 12 other companies last year, alleging improper handling of PFAS leading to contamination of waterways.

3M, holding a facility in Cordova in Rock Island County, settled in a separate case to pay up to $10.3 billion over a 13-year period to public water suppliers that have detected the substances in drinking water across the nation.

Contact Patrick M. Keck: 312-549-9340, pkeck@gannett.com, twitter.com/@pkeckreporter.