20-05-2025
Bills aim to study long-term PFAS effects in children
LANSING, Mich. (WOOD) — Bipartisan companion bills introduced in the Michigan State House and Senate aim to find out more about how PFAS will impact children who have been exposed.
PFAS — a class of manmade chemicals used in all sorts of products, often to make them nonstick or waterproof — was discovered in residential wells near an old industrial dumping site near Rockford in 2017.
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State Sen. Mark Huizenga, R-Walker, and thousands of others who had never heard of PFAS felt blindsided.
'The PFAS crisis emerged in Rockford when I first started to run. And I consider myself well-read and understand what's going on with a lot of things, but I had never heard about PFAS and I felt very ignorant,' Huizenga said.
Huizenga and many people in Michigan and beyond have learned a lot about the so-called 'forever chemicals' that don't break down and can well after contamination. While the chemicals are thought to be linked to certain cancers and other illnesses, the full scope of their lingering health implications is not clear.
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Huizenga and state Rep. Julie Rogers, D-Kalamazoo, have introduced legislation that will explore PFAS blood levels in children who may have been exposed.
'This new legislation is focused on children and aims to continue to look at the potential long-term health effects from PFAS exposure,' Rogers said.
If approved, the new measures would allocate $500,000 for free blood testing that could otherwise cost people hundreds of dollars. That testing can give children and their parents answers about personal health and create a scientific record and database of information as PFAS continues to be detected in sites around the country.
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At a time when bipartisan cooperation is sometimes hard to find in the state capitol, these two lawmakers from different parties say some things, like children's health, rise above the political fray.
'This is not partisan politics,' Huizenga said. 'This is standing up for the men and women and mostly for the children in our community to make sure they get the resources that they deserve and need.'
The pilot plan, if approved, would be for Kent, Ottawa and Kalamazoo counties. But given the scope of the contamination, it could be implemented statewide in the future.
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