COURT
Federal suit challenges state labeling of PFAS products
Suit targets a state rule requiring a PFAS logo on all goods containing 'forever chemicals'
Published
A roster of trade and manufacturing groups filed a federal lawsuit this month challenging a New Mexico requirement for labeling products containing toxic "forever chemicals" linked to serious health conditions.
The lawsuit comes nearly four months after a state board required manufacturers to label consumer products containing per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances, commonly called PFAS.
Filed in U.S. District Court in Albuquerque, the suit names as defendants James Kenney, secretary of the New Mexico Environment Department, and New Mexico Attorney General Ra煤l Torrez.
The suit argues that labeling requirement "conveys a sense of chemical danger" to consumers about products containing PFAS.
"This is no accident," the suit contends. "NMED views the warning label as a means for furthering its goal of 'turning off the spigot' of PFAS-containing products in New Mexico, by warning consumers not to buy such products."
The suit alleges that the requirement violates constitutional First Amendment limits on the government's ability to compel commercial speech.
NMED spokesman Jorge Estrada said Thursday the suit intentionally misinterprets the state's labeling requirement, state law and First Amendment speech rights.
鈥淟abeling provides consumers with transparency and freedom to make informed decisions about what they bring into their homes,鈥� Estrada said in a statement. 鈥淭he Department finds it troubling that industry is willing to fight against that transparency with misguided legal action. This lawsuit makes the need for our labeling requirements even more clear.鈥�
The labeling requirement, which takes effect Jan. 1, was crafted to protect the First Amendment rights of manufacturers and trade groups, and will survive a constitutional challenge, he said.
The suit was filed July 1 by nine manufacturing and trade groups, including the American Chemistry Council, the Alliance for Automotive Innovation and a state group, the New Mexico Retail Association.
The suit asks a federal judge for an injunction that would bar the state from implementing the labeling requirement.
PFAS chemicals make up a broad category of thousands of substances 鈥渦sed in countless household, commercial and industrial products,鈥� the suit argues. Many of those chemicals are 鈥渆ntirely enclosed or sequestered鈥� within the product, "and so a consumer is not exposed to PFAS.鈥�
PFAS chemicals have become a focus of concern in New Mexico since state officials found contamination near Clovis in 2015 and traced the source to firefighting foams used at Cannon Air Force Base.
The contaminants have spread to a miles-long groundwater plume and have been found in blood samples of residents near the base. One dairy owner near Clovis was required to euthanize some 4,000 cows contaminated with PFAS.
New Mexico lawmakers in 2025 enacted the PFAS Protection Act, which phases out use of the chemicals from many consumer products and requires labeling on products that contain PFAS.
The state Environmental Improvement Board in March approved rules implementing the labeling requirement called for in the law. The warning label at issue consists of an image of a scientific flask, called an Erlenmeyer flask, stamped with the term "PFAS."
鈥淟abeling consumer products containing PFAS is about honesty 鈥� a concept now required by regulation,鈥� NMED鈥檚 secretary Kenney said in March. The labeling will apply to items such as cookware, toys and cosmetics.
鈥淭he rules place families on equal footing with the manufacturers," he said.
Olivier Uyttebrouck covers the court system. You can reach him at olivier@abqjournal.com.
