{"id":312596,"date":"2026-06-19T02:51:08","date_gmt":"2026-06-19T02:51:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/312596\/"},"modified":"2026-06-19T02:51:08","modified_gmt":"2026-06-19T02:51:08","slug":"florida-law-targeting-forever-chemicals-set-to-take-effect-july-1","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/312596\/","title":{"rendered":"Florida law targeting \u201cforever chemicals\u201d set to take effect July 1"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>WEST PALM BEACH, Fla (CBS12) \u2014 A new Florida law aimed at reducing exposure to so-called \u201cforever chemicals\u201d is set to take effect July 1 \u2014 and it\u2019s named in honor of a late Palm Beach County lawmaker.<\/p>\n<p>The <a href=\"https:\/\/www.flsenate.gov\/Committees\/BillSummaries\/2026\/html\/1019\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Joe Casello Act<\/a> targets PFAS, a group of chemicals commonly found in certain firefighting foams and everyday consumer products. The new law restricts the use of PFAS-based firefighting foam for training and includes penalties for violations.<\/p>\n<p>State Representative Rob Long (D-Delray Beach), who now holds the seat once held by Joe Casello, helped push the measure forward. Casello, a former firefighter, passed away last year.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThere\u2019s such a massive stockpile of it it\u2019s still being used in training and it\u2019s been tied to all of these health issues with our firefighters,\u201d Long said.<\/p>\n<p>See also: <a href=\"https:\/\/cbs12.com\/news\/florida\/florida-could-soon-ban-undocumented-students-from-public-universities-colleges\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Florida proposal could bar undocumented students from some state universities<\/a><\/p>\n<p>Long says lawmakers rallied around the bill in honor of Casello.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cEvery single member of the House actually ended up sponsoring this bill in honor of our fallen colleague, Joe Casello,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"FILE - Vials containing samples of forever chemicals, known as PFAS, sit in a tray, April 10, 2024, at a U.S. Environmental Protection Agency lab in Cincinnati. (AP Photo\/Joshua A. Bickel, File)\" class=\"ImageEmbed_image__qZBo_\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/d93e0cea-4252-4440-93f4-e8b696a84000-AP25134487196604.jpg\"\/><\/p>\n<p>FILE &#8211; Vials containing samples of forever chemicals, known as PFAS, sit in a tray, April 10, 2024, at a U.S. Environmental Protection Agency lab in Cincinnati. (AP Photo\/Joshua A. Bickel, File)<\/p>\n<p>Experts say PFAS aren\u2019t just limited to firefighting foam. They\u2019re also found in everyday products like cleaning supplies, cosmetics, and personal care items \u2014 and are increasingly being detected in drinking water.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThere\u2019s a lot of uses of PFAS in your cleaning products your shampoos, your conditioners, your cosmetics,\u201d said Anna Reade, a senior scientist with the Natural Resources Defense Council.<\/p>\n<p>One major concern is how long these chemicals last.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThey don\u2019t really degrade for hundreds of thousands of years,\u201d Reade said.<\/p>\n<p>Health experts say long-term exposure to PFAS has been linked to serious health issues.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cLong-term exposure can increase our risk of cancers, including testicular and kidney cancer but also increase our risk of various reproductive and developmental harms,\u201d Reed said.<\/p>\n<p>The issue is already affecting communities locally. The <a href=\"https:\/\/cbs12.com\/news\/local\/city-of-stuart-secures-26-million-settlement-from-dupont-over-forever-chemicals-pfas-lawsuit-chemical-pollution-water-quality-firefighting-foam-utility-customers-environmental-cleanup-regulatory-compliance-public-health-water-treatment-environmental\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">City of Stuart<\/a> recently secured a multi-million-dollar settlement tied to PFAS contamination in its drinking water.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cOver 200 million Americans have PFAS in their drinking water and over 100 million are above safety standards,\u201d Reed said.<\/p>\n<p>Lawmakers say this latest legislation is just the beginning, with additional PFAS-related measures expected in future sessions.<\/p>\n<p>The Joe Casello Act officially takes effect July 1, 2026.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"WEST PALM BEACH, Fla (CBS12) \u2014 A new Florida law aimed at reducing exposure to so-called \u201cforever chemicals\u201d&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":312597,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[28,30,29],"class_list":["post-312596","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-florida","tag-florida","tag-florida-headlines","tag-florida-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/312596","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=312596"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/312596\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/312597"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=312596"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=312596"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=312596"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}