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Environmental and public‑health groups press committee to move PFAS controls and reduce single‑use plastics
Summary
Environmental and public‑health witnesses urged the committee to advance PFAS restrictions, noting broad contamination and health harms, and to pass measures limiting single‑use plastics and styrene; they said the public supports action and requested early hearings.
Coalitions and environmental health groups testified to the Joint Committee on Public Health that per‑ and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) are widespread, persistent and substantive public‑health threats in Massachusetts. Clean Water Action, the Environmental League of Massachusetts and MASSPIRG described PFAS contamination in public water systems and consumer products and urged the committee to set an early hearing and pass strong PFAS controls to “stop the flow” of new PFAS into products and the environment.
Speakers said PFAS are bioaccumulative, persistent and linked in scientific literature to cancers, immunosuppression, liver impacts and other serious health effects. Witnesses recalled progress in prior sessions — including firefighter‑gear reforms — and urged the committee to build on that work with statutory controls across product categories and to fast‑track measures that can be implemented quickly.
Witnesses also advocated for restrictions on styrene (used in many foam and plastic products) and other single‑use plastics, arguing those materials increase human exposures to synthetic chemicals that are now showing up in human blood and tissues and that state action can reduce exposures without major fiscal cost.
Speakers asked the committee to set an early hearing and to coordinate with state regulatory agencies to translate task‑force recommendations into enforceable statutory controls.
