Advocates Decry NYS Assembly Leadership Inaction to “Turn off the Tap” on Toxics to Protect New Yorkers’ Health

ALBANY, NY — As the final day of the 2025 New York State Session comes to a close, advocates in JustGreen Partnership and allied PFAS Free NY Campaign expressed disappointment with the lack of action taken by the state assembly on a suite of legislation that would ban PFAS and other toxic chemicals in New Yorkers’ everyday lives. Despite strong support from constituents, impacted communities, businesses, and health professionals, as well as the senate’s passage of these key bills, the assembly leadership’s failure to allow advancement means another year of New Yorker’s vulnerability to chemicals that have been scientifically demonstrated to be dangerous to people and the planet.

The bills that failed to pass the assembly passed the senate with bipartisan support: the Beauty Justice Act (S.2057a/A.2054a) passed the Senate 49–10; the Ban on PFAS in Consumer Products (S.187a/A.7738) passed the Senate 47–12; the PFAS Discharge Disclosure Act (S.4574b/A.5832b) that passed the senate unanimously 53–0; the Packaging Reduction and Recycling Infrastructure Act (S.1464/A.1749) and a Biosolids Moratorium (to end spreading PFAS on farmland) (S.5759c/A.6192d) passed the Senate 48–11.

PFAS chemicals also known as “forever chemicals” are regularly used as ingredients in personal care products like lotion, makeup, shaving cream, and menstrual products, as well as intentionally added to everyday consumer products like cookware, rugs, textiles, dental floss, ski wax, and more. These synthetic chemicals persist and pose serious concerns for public health as they accumulate in the environment and people’s bodies contributing to health harms like: hormone disruption, infertility, organ disruption, immune dysfunction, and even cancer. Recent NRDC analysis details the immense health care and cleanup costs associated with PFAS use and contamination.

Other toxic chemicals like known carcinogens formaldehyde, benzene, and asbestos, along with hormone disrupting phthalates and other chemicals, would be banned in personal care products by the Beauty Justice Act.

“Earlier this year, when both houses passed the Ban PFAS in Period Products, Assembly Speaker Heastie said, ‘Women should not be facing problems with their health simply through the use of menstrual products.’ It’s profoundly disappointing not to see the assembly follow through with other vital bills that protect people through their simple use of common products, be they personal care items or other household products,” said Bobbi Wilding, executive director of Clean+Healthy, which co-leads the JustGreen Partnership. “Each year the legislature fails to act to turn off the tap on PFAS, and to keep PFAS from entering our environment, adds to the financial and health burdens New Yorkers carry. New York had the opportunity to resume its leadership to protect people from toxics this session, even more critical in the face of widespread erosion of federal protections. The assembly’s failure to act leaves us all in the lurch.”

“Women—particularly women of color—are disproportionately exposed to toxic chemicals in their lived environment, and even more so from beauty products that are marketed toward them. That is why public health professionals, environmental health advocates, business leaders, and even the New York State Senate are in favor of passing the Beauty Justice Act (S.2057A/A.2054A), which would restrict the use of some of the most dangerous chemicals in personal care products,” explained Briana Carbajal, state legislative manager at WE ACT for Environmental Justice. “Unfortunately, the assembly failed to bring this legislation to a vote, denying its members the opportunity to protect the health of their constituents.”

“We are ending the legislative session with a whimper, watching toxics legislation die on the vine, yet again,” said Caitlin Ferrante, conservation program manager, Sierra Club, Atlantic chapter. “The inaction on legislation to stop the spread of PFAS-laden sewage sludge has been blamed on the need to first turn off the upstream PFAS-spigot, but there was almost no action on turning off the toxic tap. More illnesses, cancers and wildlife deaths will happen because the callous disregard for what the chemical industry spews across New York. The state deserves comprehensive PFAS protection, not another year of inaction.”

"Another legislative session has come and gone yet New York State Assembly leadership has failed to protect New Yorkers from exposure to PFAS in an array of household and personal care products, even though safer alternatives already exist,” said Kate Donovan, Northeast director of Environmental Health at NRDC (Natural Resources Defense Council). "Not passing these protections shows a lack of compassion for the thousands of New Yorkers who are already living with elevated PFAS in their blood and desperately trying to avoid further exposure. Our recent analysis shows the social costs of PFAS contamination in New York are immense, including billions of dollars in associated health care costs. This session was a missed opportunity to pass legislation that protects public health and saves costs."

“The time to act was yesterday,” said Adrienne Esposito, executive director, Citizens Campaign for the Environment. “The New York Assembly missed a critical opportunity to protect public health and our water resources by their failure to pass legislation that would remove toxic PFAS chemicals from everyday consumer products. This bill had bipartisan support. This is an unnecessary and frustrating setback for all of us who worked so hard to garner immense support for this bill. Toxic ‘forever chemicals’ linked to cancer and immune system disruption remain in products we use every day, from dental floss to cookware, because the assembly chose inaction. The senate did its job. Because the assembly chose inaction, New Yorkers will be needlessly exposed to these dangerous chemicals for yet another year. We thank Assemblymember Glick for her unwavering leadership and commitment to getting PFAS out of our products and our lives, we will keep fighting alongside her until this bill becomes law.”

"The next steps are clear on passing PFAS legislation in Albany," said Charles Moon, MD, cochair of the Public Policy and Advocacy Committee of the New York State chapter of the American Academy of Pediatrics. "PFAS is dangerous to human health, but solutions to deal with these toxic forever chemicals and reduce exposure do exist. There are safe alternatives. We remain committed to educating New Yorkers and our state policymakers about the dangers and solutions so that we can make the necessary policy change to protect individual and community health." 

“Yesterday’s failure of the New York Assembly to pass many key bills that had majority—and even bipartisan—support reflects a structural problem,” said Bob Rossi, executive director of the New York Sustainable Business Council. “It is unconscionable to let New York’s people, natural environment, and economy suffer simply because there was not enough time at the end of session. We encourage assembly leadership to reflect, acknowledge this reality, and commit to structural changes that ensure success in the second year of this legislature.”

“By yielding to pressure from chemical and plastics industry lobbyists, the assembly failed to protect public health, clean water, and our environment,” said Jeremy Cherson, associate director of government affairs at Riverkeeper. “Despite overwhelming public support and unanimous Senate passage, assembly leadership refused to allow a vote on the PFAS Discharge Disclosure Act, keeping communities in the dark about toxic pollution entering waters like the Hudson River. Once again, the assembly missed a critical opportunity to confront the growing crisis of plastic pollution and take meaningful action on toxic chemicals like PFAS. It is deeply disappointing that at a time when the Trump administration is unleashing an unprecedented assault on environmental and public health protections, the Assembly failed to push back—bowing instead to intense lobbying and campaign contributions from industry opponents.”

Closing day for the New York State Assembly coincided with the news that the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency intends to delay and potentially rescind the ban on asbestos, a known carcinogen, and followed announcements of delays and rollbacks on other vital federal protections.

Although gravely disappointed by the outcome of action on toxics bills, the JustGreen Partnership and supporters of PFAS-Free NY and the Beauty Justice Act commends the efforts of Assemblymembers Glick and Kelles, and the rest of the legislative Team Tackling Toxics for their work to pass legislation that would ban PFAS from our everyday lives.

PFAS-Free NY is a campaign organized by a broad group of organizations, advocates, and impacted community members who have come together to fight for a PFAS-free New York. Visit us at www.pfasfreeny.org and follow us on Twitter and Instagram @PFASfreeNY.