Following Years Of Advocacy, Gillibrand Joins Community In Hoosick Falls To Announce New Legislation To Create Access To Medical Monitoring For Victims Of Significant PFAS Exposure

April 5, 2021

Hundreds Of People In Hoosick Falls And Petersburgh Are Living With Dangerous Levels Of PFAS Chemicals From Contaminated Municipal Water Supply; Gillibrand’s PFAS Accountability Act Would Improve Access To Medical Monitoring And Create A Federal Cause of Action For Victims Of PFAS Exposure

Today, U.S. Senator Kirsten Gillibrand held a roundtable discussion in Hoosick Falls with advocates and community leaders and announced legislation to provide Americans with improved legal pathways that would help courts award medical monitoring for victims of per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) exposure and bolster PFAS research. PFAS are a group of thousands of manufactured chemicals that can seep into drinking water supplies. They have contaminated waterways in New York and across the country. Hundreds of people in Hoosick Falls and Petersburgh are living with dangerous levels of PFAS in their blood after contamination of the municipal water supply. The chemical is used widely in industrial manufacturing, including in the production of non-stick goods and firefighting foam, and has been linked to cancer and other serious ailments.

For years, Senator Gillibrand heard the devastating stories of PFAS contamination in the Hoosick Falls community and pledged to help them receive medical monitoring. The PFAS Accountability Act would create improved legal pathways to award medical monitoring for PFAS contamination victims in order to prevent premature morbidity, disability, or mortality. The PFAS Accountability Act, led by Representative Madeleine Dean (D-PA-04) in the U.S. House of Representatives, would also incentivize funding for PFAS safety research.

See the full press release