Maine bans toxic ‘forever chemicals’ under groundbreaking new law

State is the first to enact a broad ban of PFAS compounds, which are found in everything from cosmetics to cookware

Maine has enacted a groundbreaking law that will ban the use of toxic PFAS compounds in all products by 2030, except in instances deemed currently unavoidable".

Though states and the federal government have passed piecemeal laws regulating the dangerous chemicals' use, Maine is the nation's first state and world's first government to enact a broad prohibition on the class of about 9,000 compounds, which are dubbed forever chemicals" because they don't fully break down and accumulate in the environment and humans.