State updates hazardous substances list to include harmful forever chemicals, begins rulemaking
Oregon's list of regulated hazardous substances is getting its first update in nearly two decades with the addition of six 'forever chemicals' known to harm human health.
The Oregon Department of Environmental Quality on Tuesday announced it would add six perfluoroalkyl and polyfluoroalkyl substances, or PFAS, to the state's list of more than 800 regulated contaminants and begin creating regulations to limit Oregonians' exposure to them.
'We need this rulemaking to hold parties responsible for contamination and to address that contamination,' said Sarah Van Glubt, a manager in DEQ's environmental cleanup program who is leading the rulemaking. 'Otherwise, right now, everything is voluntary. We can't require parties to test and treat for these chemicals.'.
The Environmental Quality Commission is expected to vote on adding the chemicals to the state's list and adopting new regulations on or after May 21.
Email comments to: PFAS2025@deq.oregon.gov
Join a public hearing on April 22 at 11 a.m. here or 6 p.m. here
PFAS are human-made chemical chains used in products such as flame retardants, nonstick cookware and waterproof clothing that do not break down or go away naturally but instead have for decades leached into rivers and streams and contaminated soil, water and even air.
They are thought to now be in the blood of everyone in the U.S., according to research and testing from the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and can lead to increased risks for cancers, heart damage, high cholesterol and birth defects, among other adverse health effects.
Suspected sources of past or ongoing PFAS pollution in Oregon include 139 commercial airports that are or were required to maintain PFAS-containing firefighting foam on site, as well as 18 municipal fire training facilities near 20 of the most populous cities in the state, according to rulemaking documents from DEQ.
Officials at Portland International Airport began testing for PFAS in 2017 in and around a firefighter training ground there used by the Air National Guard. They identified PFAS contamination adjacent to the nearby Columbia Slough and found PFAS-impaired fish and aquatic species. They've since switched to using PFAS-free firefighting foam and have begun initial stages of cleanup.
Oregon lawmakers are considering a bill — Senate Bill 91 — that would ban PFAS from firefighting foam used on the ground by firefighters. The Oregon Senate voted to pass the bill nearly unanimously in February, but a vote in the House has not yet been scheduled.
Other sites to potentially test for PFAS contamination include 22 bulk fuel facilities and 93 metal plating facilities in Oregon.
In 2024, the U.S. Envionmental Protection Agency added several PFAS to the federal list of regulated hazardous substances, and mandated states begin testing for them in drinking water systems.
The Oregon Health Authority has identified PFAS in 35 Oregon public drinking water systems, with 24 of those exceeding the EPA's new drinking water standards for the compounds. The state has until April 2026 to adopt the federal agency's new PFAS standards and public water systems have until April 2029 to comply with those standards.
DEQ's new regulations would apply to PFAS pollution in rivers, lakes, soil and groundwater but would not address potential contamination released through the air, such as when biosolids and sewage sludge containing PFAS are burned, releasing PFAS into the air, or potential PFAS contamination from those biosolids being spread on farm fields as fertilizer.
Biosolids filtered from Portland's sewer and wastewater get heated and dried out in anaerobic digestors and sent to farms in eastern Oregon as fertilizer. The department doesn't test those biosolids, which likely contain PFAS.
Department spokesman Antony Sparrow said the EPA is developing a risk assessment for sewage sludge that will inform future state regulations.
Van Glubt said the department is working on a strategic plan that would combine the work of DEQ's air, water, biosolids and other teams, as well as work being done at other agencies, to deal with ongoing PFAS issues.
'This rule making really is just addressing one piece of the puzzle,' she said. 'There are other issues at play with PFAS that will need to be addressed.'.
Oregon's hazardous substances list was last updated in 2006, when environmental regulators added methane to the list.
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Newsweek
11 hours ago
- Newsweek
Your Smartwatch Could Carry a Hidden Health Risk
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"I believe the plastics industry has been using this particular PFAS in consumer products, which helps explain why it is so prevalent in the samples from this study," he added. Peaslee also indicated that a significant proportion of these chemicals in wristbands could pass through human skin under normal conditions. While traditional watch bands are made from a wide range of materials, from stainless steel to leather, smartwatch bands are typically made from more synthetic materials. Smartwatch bands have been found to contain high levels of a potentially harmful chemical, raising the question of whether the popular accessory could pose a hidden public health risk. Smartwatch bands have been found to contain high levels of a potentially harmful chemical, raising the question of whether the popular accessory could pose a hidden public health risk. Photo-illustration by Newsweek/Getty/Canva What Is PFHxA? PFHxA, one of the thousands of compounds belonging to the PFAS family, is used widely in consumer products as well as for paper food packaging and carpets, but can be harmful to humans. It has been found to have an impact on thyroid and liver function and, given it is part of the PFAS family, is by default associated with certain cancers as PFAS chemicals are classed a Group 1 carcinogen by the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC). There is, as yet, limited research directly connecting PFHxA to cancers. Despite it's possible health impacts, it is not one of the PFAS molecules currently regulated by the EPA. "Like most PFAS, the potential public health effects are still under investigation, but PFHxA is likely among the PFAS species that can accumulate in biological and environmental systems, including the human body," Christy Haynes, a professor of chemistry at the University of Minnesota, told Newsweek. Compared with other PFAS chemicals, it is thought to have a smaller impact on the human body, because it is a shorter-chain chemical that was initially planned to be used as a replacement for perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA), Jennifer Freeman, a professor of toxicology at Purdue University, Indiana, told Newsweek. "Shorter chain PFAS usually have less concern for bioaccumulation in the body compared to their longer chain counterparts," she said. Research is still ongoing, however, and studies have indicated PFHxA may cause similar adverse health effects to other PFAS chemicals, Freeman added. PFHxA "has been largely unstudied because it only shows up in whole blood samples for humans" unlike other PFAS chemicals, which "show up in blood sera samples," Peaslee told Newsweek. This is because it "is much harder to measure whole blood," he said. But, as a result of its "hazardous properties," the European Commission is looking to restrict the use of the chemical because of the risk to health it poses, requiring certain industries to scale back their use of PFHxA over the next five years. In the U.S. only Michigan has a maximum contaminant level for PFHxA, specific to drinking water contamination, while several other states "have advisory or notification levels, or cleanup levels in groundwater, soil or fish tissue," Phil Brown, the director of the Social Science Environmental Health Research Institute at Northeastern University, told Newsweek. "We should be concerned because this is a common replacement for PFOA which has many documented health effects," Brown said. "The general scientific consensus is that PFAS chemicals share many types of biological activity and many similar health effects." What Smartwatch Producers Have Said Smartwatches are a widely worn accessory in the U.S.—with around one in five Americans wearing either a smartwatch or wearable fitness tracker, according to a Pew Research survey from 2020. Some of the major producers of smartwatches include Apple, Samsung and Google. In light of the University of Notre Dame study published last year, a Google spokesperson told Newsweek: "Pixel Watch bands meet industry standards with regard to PFAS." The spokesperson added that Google "proactively restricts" the chemicals in its products and is "committed to minimizing PFAS beyond what is required by law." Google imposes limits on a long list of different chemicals, PFHxA being one of them. "We are proactively developing long-term alternatives to eliminate PFAS where possible," the spokesperson added. Apple and Samsung have previously faced lawsuits concerned with this issue. A lawsuit was raised in U.S. District Court in the Northern District of California in January against Apple, with the claimant stating Apple "misleadingly and materially omits, on all relevant marketing and advertising, that the products contain toxic PFAS." "Instead, [Apple] falsely and misleadingly markets and advertises its products" as "the ultimate device for a healthy life," the lawsuit added. At the end of 2024, a lawsuit was filed in U.S. District Court in the Central District of California against Samsung, with claimants, represented by the same law firm, making similar accusations—that Samsung had "misleadingly" not disclosed that its products contained PFAS, despite its advertising its product would help consumers "start your wellness journey." 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While caution and alternatives are advised, Haynes also told Newsweek there was no need for consumers to panic about the study. "I am not worried about PFHxA exposure from the wristband of a smartwatch," she said. She said that the chemical was likely incorporated "within a polymerized matrix and, thus, quite unlikely to leach from the band unless it is severely degraded by harsh conditions." While there is some evidence that liberated PFHxA can be absorbed through skin, she said, "ingestion and inhalation of PFHxA are more significant routes for exposure and accumulation." "If I had this smartwatch and the wristband was damaged, I would replace it, but I wouldn't think about it much beyond that," Haynes said. That said, "In a world where I think we should only use PFAS in critical applications where there aren't other options, such as medical devices, I think companies should be working on an alternate formulation for the wristband," she added. Reference Alyssa Wicks, Heather D. 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