Right now, Maryland has a chance to protect public health and our environment from toxic PFAS ("forever chemicals") in pesticides – but we need your help to make sure it happens.
HB386 would phase out the use of pesticides containing PFAS, a class of chemicals linked to cancer, immune system suppression, liver damage, reproductive harm, and developmental issues in children. These chemicals persist in the environment for decades, contaminating soil, water, and food. Studies show that PFAS in pesticides can be absorbed by crops and enter our food supply, while runoff pollutes our drinking water sources. Farmers, farmworkers, and communities near treated fields face even greater exposure risks.
Maryland already has a strong definition of PFAS that recognizes that there are thousands of these chemicals, not just a few. This broad definition ensures that chemical companies cannot circumvent the ban by tweaking chemical structures while leaving us exposed to the harmful degredates.
But chemical companies are trying to weaken the bill by creating a new definition of PFAS. They want each PFAS chemical to be evaluated separately, which would make regulating them nearly impossible. With thousands of PFAS chemicals in existence – and more being developed – it would take decades to assess them all. That’s exactly what polluters want: loopholes that let them keep using toxic chemicals while regulators struggle to keep up. If they succeed, HB386 would be ineffective and Maryland would set dangerous precedent – creating the pathway for other product manufacturers to bypass our existing definition - and PFAS pesticides would continue contaminating our environment and our health.
Take Action now and tell your representatives to reject any efforts to weaken our PFAS protections and support HB386 as written!