On July 23, 2025, Safer States published its takeaways from the 2025 legislative session on toxic chemicals and plastics. According to Safer States, in 2025, ten states have adopted at least 22 policies intended to reduce exposure to toxic chemicals and advance safer solutions. Safer States notes the following trends from the 2025 legislative sessions:

• States are leading the charge to prevent exposure to per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS), toxic plastics, and other harmful chemicals. Safer States notes several PFAS bills regarding consumer products, including an Illinois bill that would restrict PFAS in cosmetics, dental floss, juvenile products, menstrual products, and intimate apparel; a New York bill that would restrict toxic chemicals in menstrual products; and a Vermont bill that expanded the state’s PFAS restrictions to include cookware and dental floss. As reported in our June 16, 2025, blog item, the Washington Department of Ecology (WDOE) proposed restrictions and reporting requirements on intentionally added PFAS in 12 product categories. Safer States also highlights a “groundbreaking policy” in California that would ban microplastics in products such as cleaning supplies, cosmetics, and fertilizers, as well as the California Department of Toxic Substances Control’s (CDTSC) proposal to list microplastics as a toxic substance.
• States are addressing pollution and cleaning up toxic contamination. Safer States highlights steps taken in Maine, Minnesota, Oregon, Rhode Island, Virginia, and Washington to address PFAS contamination.
• States are successfully defending hard-won protections. According to Safer States, Minnesota defeated attempts to weaken Amara’s Law, which “bans all unnecessary uses of PFAS and the chemical lobby worked overtime to carve out exemptions.” Safer States states that “Maine, Rhode Island, Colorado, and Connecticut defeated attempts to exempt cookware from their PFAS laws,” while “Maine, Illinois, and Maryland rejected proposals to narrow the definition of PFAS, refusing to carve out exemptions for fluorinated gases and PFAS plastics — key loopholes that industry pushed for.”
• States are protecting drinking water as federal action falters.

Safer States anticipates that this momentum will continue in the states that still have active legislative sessions. Safer State’s bill tracker allows stakeholders “to keep up to date on adopted and moving state legislative policies that help move the needle forward toward achieving a healthier world.”