{"id":313084,"date":"2026-10-24T01:20:12","date_gmt":"2026-10-24T01:20:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/313084\/"},"modified":"2026-10-24T01:20:12","modified_gmt":"2026-10-24T01:20:12","slug":"pennsylvania-restricts-use-of-pfas-chemicals-in-firefighting-foam","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/313084\/","title":{"rendered":"Pennsylvania restricts use of PFAS chemicals in firefighting foam"},"content":{"rendered":"

Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro signed into law on Thursday a measure that prohibits the use of chemicals known as PFAS in firefighting foam,\u00a0which is used to suppress fires. The language was included in Senate Bill 804<\/a>, unrelated legislation to phase out harmful chemicals in intravenous (IV) bags and other medical devices.<\/p>\n

The new law<\/a> restricts the manufacture, sale and distribution of PFAS in firefighting foam in Pennsylvania starting in July 2027, and the use of them starting in January 2028, with exceptions including airports, chemical plants and oil refineries.<\/p>\n

There are thousands of Per- and Polyfluoroalkyl Substances, which are man-made chemicals used in everyday products, such as food packaging, stain-resistant carpets and non-stick cookware. The Environmental Protection Agency considers them \u201cforever chemicals<\/a>\u201d because they don\u2019t break down in the environment or the human body. PFAS are linked to cancer and other health issues.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe know that a major historic source of that is PFAS in firefighting foams,\u201d said Stephanie Wein, clean water and conservation advocate at the PennEnvironment Research and Policy Center<\/a>, a nonprofit group that advocated for the law.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s why you see big contamination sites near airports and military bases and firefighting training centers or even places where you have one big fire one time, and then you have contamination in the groundwater for decades to come,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Widespread contamination of PFAS in Pennsylvania<\/p>\n

High levels of PFAS were found in the Montour Run watershed<\/a> near the Pittsburgh International Airport, which has a firefighting training center. A recent PennEnvironment report<\/a> found PFAS in 96% of rivers and streams tested throughout the commonwealth.\u00a0<\/p>\n

PFAS has also contaminated drinking water sources.<\/p>\n

\u201cOften due to their presence in firefighting foam, PFAS have been found in drinking water across the commonwealth, from Willow Grove<\/a> in southeastern Pennsylvania and Emmaus<\/a> in the Lehigh Valley to Moon Township<\/a> in Allegheny County,\u201d Wein said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Read More<\/p>\n

Bipartisan Support<\/p>\n

The bill was sponsored by both Republicans and Democrats, in collaboration with firefighters<\/a>, emergency responders and the industry, and was passed with a nearly unanimous vote in the legislature.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cThis to us feels like a really important first step and it was exciting to see it not just get over the finish line, but over the finish line with such tremendous bipartisan support,\u201d said Wein.<\/p>\n

More than<\/a> a dozen states have passed similar laws, and Congress<\/a> started phasing out military use of PFAS in firefighting foam in 2020.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cThis bill is a commonsense response that has already been adopted by many states,\u201d said Senator Gene Yaw (R-23) in a press release<\/a>. \u201cIt will undoubtedly protect firefighters moving forward, while also safeguarding our ground and surface water from contamination.\u201d<\/p>\n

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The law requires the safe disposal of PFAS-containing firefighting foam, overseen by the state fire commissioner and the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection.<\/p>\n

The personal protective equipment (PPE) firefighters wear can also contain PFAS chemicals.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cTheir qualities make them very effective as a water repellant which is applied to fire fighters\u2019 personal protective equipment and the base of extinguishing agents,\u201d said Adam Perreault, a fire fighter and the Political\/Legislative Director for International Association of Fire Fighters Local 302 in Allentown, when he testified<\/a> before the legislature about the bill in 2023. \u201cBasically, we are in direct, prolonged contact with PFAS daily.\u201d<\/p>\n

The new law requires manufacturers of PPE to put on a warning label if it contains added PFAS chemicals.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have a responsibility to protect those who protect us,\u201d said Sen. Nick Miller (D-14), co-sponsor of the bill, in a press release.<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro signed into law on Thursday a measure that prohibits the use of chemicals known…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":313085,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[28,30,29,8425],"class_list":["post-313084","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-pennsylvania","tag-pennsylvania","tag-pennsylvania-headlines","tag-pennsylvania-news","tag-pfas"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/313084","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=313084"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/313084\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/313085"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=313084"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=313084"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=313084"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}