Office of the
Illinois Attorney General
Kwame Raoul
Illinois – Attorney General Kwame Raoul co-led a coalition of attorneys general opposing the Trump administration’s efforts to gut data reporting and recordkeeping requirements for per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances, a group of widely used toxic chemicals that do not naturally break down in the environment, more commonly known as PFAS or “forever chemicals.”
In a comment letter sent to U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Administrator Lee Zeldin, the attorneys general oppose these major rollbacks to PFAS reporting requirements mandated by Congress in 2019 under the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA).
“As the moniker ‘forever chemicals’ implies, PFAS do not naturally break down in the environment, posing a significant threat to human health and the environment,” Raoul said. “My office has taken several actions to protect the residents of Illinois from the health impacts that can result from exposure to these toxics, and I will also continue to advocate for stronger regulations of these dangerous synthetic chemicals.”
PFAS are a group of thousands of man-made chemicals that have been used in numerous consumer products since the 1940s, including clothing, non-stick cookware, food packaging, car seats and strollers, stain resistant furnishings, and floor waxes.
Today, nearly all humans have PFAS in their blood. PFAS chemicals are toxic and can persist in the environment indefinitely. PFAS chemicals can travel through the environment, including into drinking water sources, and accumulate in human blood. Even modest releases of PFAS can cause widespread pollution and damage. The EPA has concluded that many PFAS are known to cause severe adverse human health effects, including increased risk of kidney, breast, pancreas, prostate, and testicular cancers, liver damage, decreased birth weight and birth defects, decreased vaccine response, high cholesterol and infertility.
TSCA requires manufacturers and processors of chemical substances to maintain records and submit to the EPA reports regarding the production, importation, use and disposal of chemical substances, as well as reports of all existing information concerning the environmental and health effects of each chemical, and information regarding individuals, such as workers, who have been or will be exposed to those substances.
In 2019, Congress established specialized reporting obligations for PFAS under TSCA. Manufacturers and importers must report information about the PFAS in their products for a one-time reporting requirement currently scheduled to begin in April 2026.
State and federal regulators are still uncovering the chemicals in everyday household items and the PFAS reporting rule will be an important tool to do that. Now, just months away from receiving this data, the EPA is seeking to gut the rule and prevent the public from accessing more information about the use of PFAS.
If adopted, the Trump administration’s proposal would shield from reporting over 98% of entities that are expected to have relevant, vital information about PFAS under six new carve-outs that had been previously considered and rejected by the EPA. The proposal includes reporting exemptions for articles with PFAS concentrations below 0.1, imported articles, PFAS manufactured as byproducts, impurities and non-isolated intermediates, and research and development PFAS.
Raoul and the attorneys general write in their letter that if the EPA adopts its proposal as a final rule, vital information about the types of PFAS used in U.S. commerce and the risks these chemicals pose will remain unknown. They argue that the proposal is arbitrary and capricious and unlawfully undermines states’ efforts to protect human health and the environment. They urge the EPA to preserve the integrity of the existing rule and to begin collection of PFAS data without further delay.
The comment letter is Attorney General Raoul’s most recent effort to protect the public from PFAS. Raoul and elected officials from several states have repeatedly urged Congress and the EPA to take prompt and aggressive actions to respond to the national PFAS crisis. After Raoul called on the U.S. Senate to pass legislation to protect the public from the dangers of these toxic chemicals, the U.S. Department of Defense received additional tools to address PFAS.
Raoul has filed multiple lawsuits regarding PFAS protection. In 2022, Raoul filed a lawsuit against 3M alleging that the company’s improper handling of PFAS resulted in ongoing contamination at and around its facility in Cordova, Illinois. Raoul also filed a lawsuit against multiple companies that manufacture PFAS alleging the manufacturers have known for decades that PFAS are toxic and pose substantial health and environmental risks, yet continue to actively promote the chemicals as safe to manufacture and use. Raoul also filed a lawsuit in 2023 against multiple companies that manufacture PFAS utilized in a fire suppressing foam known as aqueous film forming foam or “AFFF” that is used to extinguish flammable liquid fires from gasoline, oil, jet fuel and other chemicals at industrial facilities. Following that lawsuit, Raoul joined a coalition supporting the EPA’s proposal to set enforceable drinking water standards for six PFAS chemicals.
Raoul co-led the comments with Connecticut Attorney General William Tong. They were joined in filing the comments by the attorneys general of California, Hawaii, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Oregon, Rhode Island, Washington and Wisconsin.
