[Blog] A look back on 2022: states led the way on protecting public health from toxic chemicals

By Eduardo Valenzuela | Safer States | December 16, 2022

Read the full article by Eduardo Valenzuela (Safer States)

"The year 2022 was a pivotal year where numerous states took significant action to safeguard human and environmental health from toxic chemicals and pushed toward a system based on safer chemicals and materials. Given the urgency of the PFAS chemical crisis contaminating drinking water across the country, states drove an ambitious agenda, pushing for class-based restriction of toxic chemicals, transparency about what chemicals are in what products, holding polluters accountable, preventing false solutions, and investing in cleanup. 

By the end of 2022, bipartisan majorities in 14 states adopted at least 33 policies that are transforming our economic system to be one that better protects communities and creates incentives for industry to develop safer chemicals. Many adopted policies were first in the nation and have ripple effects across the country. This is especially true of restrictions on products because of the nationalization of the marketplace—meaning that, if a ban on PFAS in cosmetics happens in Colorado, major retailers who sell products there will likely revise their entire supply chain which impacts the rest of the country, too.  

Here are four clear takeaways from this past year:  

  1. States are banning the use of entire classes of toxic chemicals 

  2. States are promoting long-term solutions and pushing back on industry’s false solutions 

  3. States are holding polluters accountable 

  4. Drinking water and farm protection are uniting priorities"

Topics: