New Mexico has become the first state in the nation to require all products containing PFAS to disclose that information directly to consumers, marking a major milestone for transparency and public health.
These rules represent a major public health breakthrough and are the result of advocacy and education by communities in New Mexico whose neighborhoods and drinking water have been contaminated by PFAS.
At a time when families are increasingly concerned about toxic chemicals in everyday products, New Mexico is showing what health-first transparency laws can look like. The new rules give families critical information about toxic chemicals in their products at the point of purchase.
While the new rules represent a step forward for transparency, other portions of the rule highlight how major loopholes in the underlying law will leave families exposed. Passed in 2025, New Mexico’s law gave the state broad authority to label PFAS as well as eliminate unnecessary uses of PFAS. Unlike other states with similar laws, New Mexico’s law contained broad exemptions for fluoropolymers, a major category of PFAS. It also exempted large uses of PFAS that leave significant sources of exposure on the market and create loopholes other states may feel pressure to adopt.
For policymakers across the nation, New Mexico offers both an important model for consumer right-to-know and an important reminder: transparency helps people make informed decisions, but comprehensive prevention without exemptions is needed to truly protect heath.
New Mexico leads the nation on PFAS labeling
In 2025, New Mexico passed the PFAS Protection Act, requiring the phaseout of PFAS in several product categories by 2028, a broader elimination of PFAS in most products by 2032, and product labeling requirements beginning in 2027.
New Mexico’s PFAS labeling requirement is genuinely groundbreaking. While states like California and New Jersey require PFAS labeling in cookware, and states like Minnesota and Maine require companies to disclose PFAS-containing products to state agencies, New Mexico is the first state to require direct consumer labeling for PFAS in all products.
This transparency gives people the information they need to identify products that may expose them to toxic chemicals linked to cancer, immune system harm, reproductive impacts, and other health concerns. Giving people the right to know is an important first step toward protecting their health and encouraging the market to move toward safer products.
New Mexico’s labeling rule reflects a growing shift toward health-focused policies that prioritize prevention, transparency, and accountability. It also signals that states are increasingly supporting policies giving people the right to know about what harmful chemicals are in the products they use everyday.
PFAS loopholes leave families exposed
While the labeling provisions are truly groundbreaking, the final regulations on New Mexico’s ban on PFAS in products were constrained by exemptions written into the underlying law. These exemptions leave certain products and types of PFAS outside the rules in ways that weaken the policy’s effectiveness and risk setting troubling precedents nationwide.
Most importantly, these exemptions allow continued exposure to significant sources of PFAS despite a law intended to prevent those exposures.
Most notably, the regulations exempt fluoropolymers, a major category of PFAS sometimes described as “plastic PFAS” that are used in cookware, textiles, electronics, and many industrial applications.
Although fluoropolymers are sometimes portrayed as different from other PFAS, they are still PFAS. They persist in the environment, contribute to widespread contamination, and can expose workers and communities throughout their lifecycle. Exempting them leaves a significant gap in the law’s ability to prevent harmful exposures.
These types of PFAS are highly persistent in the environment and shed PFAS-based microplastics over time. As a result, they contaminate drinking water, food, and human bodies, showing up in human blood and tissue.
Fluoropolymers make up nearly a quarter of the U.S. PFAS market, and their production has contributed significantly to PFAS contamination in communities across the country.
No other state has created such a broad exemption for fluoropolymers.
By excluding them entirely, New Mexico is not only going against precedent set in 24 other states but is failing to heed the recommendation of scientists across the globe to regulate all PFAS as a class.
The law and final rules also exempt semiconductors and HVAC equipment, two sectors with significant PFAS use. As demand for data centers and advanced electronics grows, so does demand for PFAS production and manufacturing expansion, including in states like North Carolina, where communities are already grappling with PFAS contamination tied to chemical manufacturing.
Despite the loopholes, public health and environmental justice advocates in New Mexico see this program as the first of many steps to address PFAS in the state and will be working with lawmakers and regulators to expand the program to include all PFAS and products in the future.
Climate claims should not justify PFAS loopholes
The chemical industry and some policymakers argue that broad PFAS exemptions are necessary to support the clean energy and climate transition. However, these claims ignore the serious health, safety, and environmental costs associated with the continued use of these chemicals.
PFAS themselves are associated with climate risk. The manufacturing of PFAS releases powerful climate pollutants that contaminate communities and the climate alike. In addition to the climate risks, PFAS contaminates drinking water, persists in the environment for generations, and exposes workers and communities to toxic chemicals throughout their lifecycle.
Using PFAS is not a sustainable climate solution if it simply shifts the burden of pollution onto frontline communities and future generations. Innovation and public health should advance together by investing in safer solutions instead of creating broad exemptions for harmful chemicals.
Transparency is a major win, but prevention is the ultimate goal
Despite these loopholes, New Mexico’s labeling requirements are a significant win for public health and safety.
Importantly, as a result of community pressure, products containing PFAS that are exempt from the phase-out requirements must still comply with the state’s labeling requirements.
That transparency matters. Labeling creates public awareness, empowers consumers, and pressures manufacturers and retailers to move toward safer alternatives.
As more states consider policy, New Mexico offers both an important leap forward and a cautionary tale to policymakers: strong transparency is important, but the strongest health protections require policies that prevent exposures by eliminating harmful PFAS without broad exemptions and accelerate the transition to safer solutions.
