By Hannah Grover

New Mexico could follow the lead of approximately a dozen other states and restrict the sale or manufacturing of various household products including carpets, feminine hygiene products, cookware and cosmetics made with PFAS chemicals.

“Intentionally added PFAS in consumer goods are showing up at our breakfast tables, our kitchen tables, in our breakfast burritos, in our pepitas,” New Mexico Environment Department Secretary James Kenney said.

He said until New Mexico “takes a stance with the 13 other states” that have already passed laws restricting PFAS in consumer goods, the federal government “is off the hook.”

“We think the federal government would be best at regulating PFAS in consumer products,” Kenney said. “But until that time, we want to join the other states to protect our consumers, protect our families, to protect our water, to protect our land, and this is the way we’re going about doing it.”

Three Democratic House members — Joanne Ferrary of Las Cruces, Debra Sariñana of Albuquerque and Kathleen Cates of Rio Rancho — introduced HB 212 this week.

The bill is similar to Amara’s Law in Minnesota, as well as legislation passed in other states to restrict PFAS.

Amara’s Law was named for a young woman who developed a rare type of liver cancer after living near a 3M facility, which manufactured products containing PFAS. Amara Strand spent the last months of her life pushing for the legislation, which went into effect on Jan. 1 of this year.

PFAS — also known as forever chemicals — have been linked to various health impacts including cancer, pre-term births, increased risks of infection and some types of liver disease.

One way that New Mexico’s legislation differs from those in other states is that it allows manufacturers to set up producer responsibility organizations. These organizations would be tasked with ensuring products containing PFAS are properly disposed of. Kenney said producers will have the choice of either removing PFAS from their household products altogether or forming a producer responsibility organization to take responsibility for disposal of those household products.

HB 212 refers to these organizations as stewardship programs and states the Environmental Improvement Board can “create, enforce or terminate a [PFAS] stewardship program.”

While New Mexico doesn’t have someone like Strand to name its bill after, there are still plenty of stories around the state about how PFAS has impacted communities.

Many of those stories are from communities neighboring military bases. Officials are also addressing high levels of PFAS in drinking water wells near Santa Fe, though the source of that contamination has not yet been confirmed.

Kenney said PFAS chemicals have also been found at Ski Apache in Ruidoso due to the use of such substances in certain types of ski wax.

He said some communities are also experiencing high PFAS levels due to septic tanks.

“The more we look, the more we find, and our ability to look is limited by our own budget,” Kenney said.

The environment department has conducted blood testing in the Clovis area and has urged hunters who have consumed waterfowl from Holloman Lake to get their blood tested. The PFAS contamination in those areas is due to firefighting exercises at nearby military bases. The firefighting foam used in training contained PFAS.

Kenney said HB 212 will not restrict PFAS in firefighting foams because the bill is intended to target household products and, generally, New Mexicans will not be bringing firefighting foams into their houses.

The restrictions in HB 212 would be implemented in two phases. The first phase, which would go into effect in 2027, prohibits the sale of products such as cookware, food packaging, dental floss and juvenile products containing PFAS.

Kenney explained that those products have the potential of PFAS being ingested by consumers, which has higher risks associated with it than skin contact.

In 2028, the bill would prevent the sale of products such as carpets, rugs, cleaning products, cosmetics, fabric treatments, feminine hygiene products, textiles, textile furnishings, ski wax and upholstered furniture.

Kenney said right now consumers can walk into stores and purchase products that say they are non-toxic but actually contain PFAS.

“People who are not familiar with this topic are being told that the things they’re bringing into their home are safe,” he said.

NMED News:

SANTA FE — New Mexico Environment Department (NMED) said New Mexico is stepping up to help residents and workers surrounding Cannon Air Force Base near Clovis by offering free blood tests for PFAS, a group of man-made chemicals that can affect your health.

These tests are available to anyone who has lived or worked in certain areas around the base, where PFAS contaminated the local water supply.

PFAS, or per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances, are a group of synthetic chemicals used in a variety of products, including food packaging, nonstick cookware, and certain types of fire-fighting materials.

They are often referred to as “forever chemicals” because they do not easily degrade in the environment, building up over time in soil, water and living organisms.

Studies have shown a link between PFAS and numerous adverse health effects, including increased cholesterol, reproductive problems and cancer. Additional information about PFAS is available here.

To help people understand their exposure, the New Mexico Environment Department (NMED), the Department of Health (NMHealth), and the Department of Veterans’ Services are joining forces to offer these free tests.

This allows those impacted by the release of PFAS into local groundwater and their healthcare providers to quantify exposure and manage potential health impacts. It also helps NMHealth inform future public health actions, such as working with communities to increase awareness about the importance of testing private wells and providing residents with resources about testing water for PFAS and methods of water treatment.

Together, the state agencies will host a public meeting starting at 6 p.m., Aug. 27 at the Clovis Civic Center (801 Schepps Blvd., Clovis, New Mexico 88101) to share information with those interested in participating and assist in making appointments. Testing will be performed during two periods: Sept. 12 through Sept. 18 and Oct. 3 through Oct. 9. No PFAS blood testing will be performed at the public meeting Aug. 27. At this time, only current New Mexico adults who have worked or lived in the white-outlined area of the map attached to this release are eligible. If future testing is warranted, the state may increase eligibility outside this initial area.

“The unfortunate truth is that most of us likely have PFAS in their blood due to the common use of these chemicals in consumer products like non-stick cookware and waterproof clothing,” NMED Secretary James Kenney said. “However, our residents who live on or near military installations like Cannon Air Force Base may be at significantly higher risk due to the Department of Defense’s longstanding practice of releasing PFAS into nearby groundwater. The Department of Defense’s lack of responsible and meaningful clean-up outside of Cannon Air Force Base over the last five years increases the risk of exposure to New Mexicans.”

“This blood testing project allows residents to be more aware of their contamination level and consult with their healthcare provider in how to manage its potential effects,” Kenney continued.

All PFAS blood testing is completely free and totally confidential. From one teaspoon-size blood sample, the laboratory will measure 33 different PFAS commonly found in firefighting foams and consumer goods. Participants will receive their results within three to four months of their appointment via a letter that explains how to understand the data. In addition, NMHealth will offer access to public health staff members via a help line to discuss your results and answer any questions. All participants will be given a $25 physical gift card after completing their appointment.

While there are no medical treatments available to reduce PFAS in your body once you are exposed, there are practical steps you can take to limit further exposure. In addition, sharing PFAS blood testing data with your medical provider can assist in more informative discussions when it comes to prevention and treatment of issues.

“Based on your family health history, your health care provider may recommend further tests,” Department of Health Sec. Patrick Allen said. “Issues broadly ranging from high cholesterol, and pregnancy concerns, to types of certain cancers all play a role in what actions your health provider may recommend.”

PFAS, primarily from firefighting foams, were discharged into soil at firefighting training areas around Cannon AFB. Those chemicals made their way into the underlying Ogallala Aquifer, which serves as a drinking and agricultural water source for thousands of residents in the Clovis area. Based on tests performed by EPCOR, the area’s primary local drinking water supplier, as recently as 2023, public drinking water was deemed safe. NMED does not have information on the PFAS testing cycles of some small public water systems in the area.

Unlike at installations such as Reese Air Force Base in Lubbock, Texas, the U.S. Department of Defense has not cleaned up any of its PFAS plume that migrated off Cannon Air Force Base since its discovery.

Additional information about PFAS is available here.

CLOVIS, N.M. (KRQE) – Residents and workers surrounding Cannon Air Force Base near Clovis will be able to get free blood tests to check for PFAS. The tests are available to adults who have lived or worked in certain areas around the base where PFAS have contaminated the local water supply.

“Starting way back in 2019, the United States Department of Defense sued New Mexico and said, we’re not going to clean up this PFAS contamination that migrated off base,” said James Kenney, Secretary of the New Mexico Environment Department (NMED), “We fought back and said, yes you are. And to this day, while we’re still in litigation, the Department of Defense has not cleaned up one drop of PFAS that got into the groundwater and migrated off base.”

According to Kenney, the fight to clean up PFAS, a group of chemicals known as ‘forever chemicals,’ around Cannon Air Force Base has stretched over years.

In that time, Kenney said the chemicals have gotten into the groundwater. Kenney said PFAS are in almost everything: “Anything that is stain resistant, water repellent, that’s slick in nature probably contains some degree of PFAS.”

What are PFAS?

PFAS, or per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances, are a group of synthetic chemicals used in a variety of products, including food packaging, nonstick cookware, and certain types of fire-fighting materials. They are often referred to as “forever chemicals” because they do not easily degrade in the environment, according to the New Mexico Environment Department.

“The chemical bonding is so strong that not even decomposition in the environment occurs,” Kenney said; and, they accumulate in the body, causing a whole host of health problems. “Everything from high cholesterol to low birth weight to various types of cancer. So the gamut is wide and the science keeps telling us that no detection of these chemicals is the safe amount,” Kenney said, “In the area around military bases, it’s often around the ingestion of that potable water, that drinking water.”

Studies have shown a link between PFAS and numerous adverse health effects, including increased cholesterol, reproductive problems, and cancer.

“The unfortunate truth is that most of us likely have PFAS in their blood due to the common use of these chemicals in consumer products like non-stick cookware and waterproof clothing,” Environment Department Sec. James Kenney said in a news release. “However, our residents who live on or near military installations like Cannon Air Force Base may be at significantly higher risk due to the Department of Defense’s longstanding practice of releasing PFAS into nearby groundwater. The Department of Defense’s lack of responsible and meaningful clean-up outside of Cannon Air Force Base over the last five years increases the risk of exposure to New Mexicans.”

Information about testing and who qualifies

The free tests are being offered by the New Mexico Environment Department, the Department of Health, and the Department of Veterans’ Services.

Kenney said the most surefire way to measure how many people in Clovis have been affected by the contamination is to test their blood: “Blood testing will tell us conclusively: are the residents of Clovis in that area of the plume at a higher risk than the national average or are they lower than the national average?”

Kenney said they have identified roughly 500 people who live and work in the area of the plume of forever chemical contamination who are eligible for a free blood test, but there are talks about expanding the program. “We’re not going to stop this fight until we win and we know people are safe, the water is safe, and there’s a real meaningful clean-up plan in place,” Kenney said.

At this time, only current New Mexico adults who have worked or lived in the white-outlined area of the map displayed below are eligible. If future testing is warranted, the state may

increase eligibility outside this initial area.

PFAS blood testing eligibility area map near Cannon Air Force Base and Clovis. (Credit: New Mexico Environment Department)

Testing will be performed during two periods: Sept. 12 through Sept. 18, and Oct. 3 through Oct. 9. Participants will have a one-teaspoon-size blood sample taken, and it will be tested for 33 different PFAS. Everyone who gets their blood tested will also receive a $25 gift card, according to Kenney.

NMED said participants will receive their results within three to four months via a letter that explains how to understand the data. NMHealth will offer access to public health staff members via a helpline to discuss results and answer any questions. All participants will also be given a $25 physical gift card after completing their appointment.

The state agencies will host a public meeting starting at 6 p.m. on Aug. 27 at the Clovis Civic Center (801 Schepps Blvd., Clovis, New Mexico 88101) to share information about how to make an appointment to get tested.

Additional information about PFAS can be found here.

At Art Schaap’s dairy farm in Clovis, New Mexico, sprinklers draw from deep wells to water green fields of sorghum and corn. Near the milking barn Schaap built almost three decades ago, glossy black-and-white cows lap water from a pipe.

Schaap used to ship thousands of gallons of milk each day to milk co-ops and cheese producers, who in turn sold to consumers across the country. But for the last year he has poured all that milk down the drain.

More on this story Read more of our coverage of toxins and pollution

In September 2018, Schaap got an unexpected visit from an official with Cannon Air Force Base, which adjoins his property. The official gave him a letter indicating that tests found his well water was contaminated with per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS), a group of chemicals that have been linked to reproductive and developmental problems as well as cancer. The chemicals had migrated into Schaap’s groundwater from foams used in firefighting exercises on the military base.

Schaap and his family, the letter said, should immediately stop drinking the water.

Schaap, 54, is a third-generation dairy farmer. His family had farmed in the Netherlands and California before moving to New Mexico, and Schaap has been raising cows and crops here since 1992. Air Force officials told him they’d supply his family with bottled water. But he wondered about his cows.

“Milk is 90 percent water,” he thought.

“It kind of hit me like a rock,” he recalled in a recent interview, “that my cows are drinking this polluted water.”

Testing by the New Mexico Department of Agriculture showed that his milk was contaminated at levels 70 times above a federal advisory health limit for PFAS. The compounds are often called “forever chemicals” because they don’t break down and instead accumulate over time in the environment and the bodies of animals and humans.

When Schaap found out his water was polluted, neither the state Agriculture Department nor the Food and Drug Administration had a protocol for testing milk for PFAS — they developed a test expressly for his milk. When Schaap sent his first samples to the Agriculture Department for testing, he made the decision to dump his milk in order to avoid selling a potentially contaminated product.

Schaap has since laid off 35 employees, and his 4,000 cows — not to mention his family’s health and livelihood — are in limbo. Two other dairy farms in Clovis, a town of about 40,000 on the state’s eastern edge, were also found to have PFAS contamination in their groundwater, and others are concerned about the spreading plume.

Some Clovis dairy farmers have installed filtration systems on their wells, at a cost of about $260,000 per system, with yearly maintenance costs around $50,000. The Schaaps have not — the price is simply too high for the level of contamination in multiple wells, with no guarantee of adequate purification.

The farmers say the contamination is an “existential threat” not only to their livelihoods, but to the region’s economic future.

“Everything has changed,” Schaap said. “It’s not gonna ever be the same.”

PFAS contamination is a critical concern across the U.S., as the nonprofit Environmental Working Group estimates it has affected over 1,300 locations in 49 states, based on an analysis of state and federal records. That includes more than 400 military sites that used firefighting foam with PFAS compounds, according to the Pentagon.

Industrial manufacture of PFAS, which are used in products like waterproof clothing and nonstick pans, has caused contamination in North Carolina, Michigan, California, Colorado and elsewhere. A highly publicized case of PFAS contamination from a DuPont factory in West Virginia became the basis for the new Hollywood film “Dark Waters” starring Mark Ruffalo and Anne Hathaway. But Schaap’s case, which the small nonprofit news outlet Searchlight New Mexico highlighted earlier this year, is only the second known example of dairy contamination.

The effects of his farm’s contamination have rippled through the dairy industry, revealing a new vulnerability of the food supply. Most of the milk and other dairy products that Americans consume come from dairy cooperatives made up of thousands of smaller farmers like Schaap’s. In 2018, the top 50 dairy co-ops produced an estimated 81 percent of all milk sold.

PFAS chemicals were first developed in the 1940s as nonstick coatings for cookware, but their resistance to heat, water and oil soon led to widespread use in products like waterproof clothing and industries like electronics manufacturing. Over the last 20 years, a handful of PFAS compounds were phased out of production in the U.S., although they continue to be produced in other countries. Thousands of other PFAS compounds are still manufactured here.

Yet no enforceable federal regulatory level exists for PFAS in anything — water, air, soil or food.

That “advisory” level that New Mexico officials cited when they tested Schaap’s water was part of the Environmental Protection Agency’s “lifetime health advisory” for drinking water, which for now is the sole federal PFAS guideline. The EPA threshold is controversial. Some scientists consider it too high to be protective of human health, and because it’s only an advisory, federal regulators don’t enforce it. Out of a massive family of nearly 5,000 PFAS chemicals, with more created each year, the EPA advisory covers just two compounds.

Scientists are only beginning to study the presence of PFAS in food and agricultural products. The FDA developed tests for the presence of PFAS based on the EPA’s health advisory calculations and for the first time released results earlier this year. In a limited sampling, they tested packaged foods, fresh produce — and milk samples from Schaap’s farm.

The FDA concluded: “Overall, our findings did not detect PFAS in the vast majority of the foods tested. … The FDA does not have any indication that these substances are a human health concern, in other words a food safety risk in human food, at the levels found in this limited sampling.”

But scientists who study environmental contaminants question the FDA’s findings.

Tom Neltner, chemicals policy director at the nonprofit Environmental Defense Fund, has serious concerns about the FDA’s “broad conclusions” on food safety, given the limited scope of the agency’s testing and its methodology. Specifically, he said, the FDA’s definition of what constitutes a “detectable” level of PFAS was so restrictive that “it effectively underestimated the public’s exposure to PFAS.”

In its report, the FDA stated, “All milk from that [Schaap’s] farm was discarded and did not enter into the food supply.” Neltner calls the statement “odd” because, as he said, “The cows weren’t born yesterday.” Schaap’s milk had been sold nationwide for many years before the contamination was discovered. No one knows how long Schaap’s well water, and thus his milk, has been contaminated.

Linda Birnbaum, recently retired as director of the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences, said she wishes the FDA had been “less definitive” with its conclusions. She’d like to see a larger array of foods surveyed from multiple communities across the country, and she noted that the tests measured just 16 PFAS compounds, leaving out the potential impact of thousands more chemicals.

An FDA spokesperson declined to be interviewed for this story. In a written response, the agency said, “Measuring PFAS concentrations in food, estimating dietary exposure and determining the associated health effects is an emerging area of science.”

Birnbaum thinks it’s too soon to say what level of PFAS exposure in food or water is “safe.” She said scientists need more information on people’s cumulative exposure to PFAS via food, water and even air in order to accurately evaluate the health impacts of any one source. “Is what we’re measuring giving us close to the total of chemicals in our blood,” Birnbaum asked, “or only giving us a small fraction of the total?”

Even very low doses of PFAS have been linked to decreased immune function, while other potential effects include high cholesterol and endocrine disruption as well as cognitive impairment in children.

A recent draft report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention calculated the safe levels for four PFAS chemicals to be roughly six times lower than the EPA advisory levels. And at a recent conference, Birnbaum cited a new study on pancreatic tumors in rats that suggests the safety threshold should be just 0.1 parts per trillion, or 700 times lower than the current advisory standard.

Scientists say that new findings on the health effects of PFAS should be taken into account and the EPA’s 2016 advisory should be updated. The EPA released an “action plan” in February that addresses monitoring and treatment of PFAS in drinking water, but it has not committed to creating new or enforceable standards. The agency also recently announced it has allocated $4.8 million to fund research into “managing” PFAS in rural areas and agriculture. The CDC just launched the first multi-site study to examine the health effects of PFAS exposure.

Given the uncertainty around federal PFAS limits for drinking water, several states are moving to create their own limits, ranging from 10 to 20 parts per trillion, and to regulate additional PFAS chemicals beyond the two included in the EPA standard. (New Mexico officials have said they are researching this option but haven’t said whether they will move forward with regulations.)

Birnbaum said this patchwork of regulation is confusing: “I think national coordination is where we’d all like to be.” She recommends an even stricter enforceable standard. “I’d like to see PFAS eliminated from drinking water,” she said.

Schaap never questioned the quality of his water until last year. “I felt like the water out of the faucet was the best thing for me,” he said. “It came out of my well, but I didn’t realize it was poisoning my body.”

Now Schaap is concerned about his health, though he said his only symptom is high cholesterol — which is among the potential effects of exposure to PFAS. Last year Schaap’s blood tested at 26 parts per billion for one PFAS compound, perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA). According to a CDC study, the average blood level of PFOA in the general population is just two parts per billion. Six months after Schaap switched to purified water, the level had dropped only one point, he said.

“I’ve been exposed for years to PFAS,” he said, “and what really bugs me is they knew about it.”

According to Pentagon documents, officials found contamination in both on- and off-base wells at 39 active and former Air Force bases in 2017. In the wake of the discovery of groundwater contamination in Clovis, the state of New Mexico sued the Air Force in an effort to force it to clean up the pollution. It was the first state to take legal action. The lawsuit alleges that the Defense Department had identified a “PFAS crisis” as early as 2011.

It’s unknown when the chemicals used at Cannon Air Force Base began to leach into the local aquifer, although the Air Force has acknowledged that it has used firefighting foam with PFAS since 1970. The Air Force has thus far refused to clean up or even map the extent of the PFAS plume in Clovis.

An Air Force spokesman declined to be interviewed for this story. “We share community concerns about the possible impacts our firefighting mission may have on human drinking water sources,” he said in a written response. The statement says that in addition to supplying bottled water to Clovis residents, the Air Force is installing a water filtration system at another Clovis dairy farm for human use (though it has not at Schaap’s).

Schaap’s corn and sorghum crops, along with the soil across his 3,600 acres, are also contaminated after being irrigated with PFAS-laden well water for years, possibly decades.

So far, the Air Force has refused to install large-scale filtration systems for irrigation and livestock at affected farms. “Our first priority is protecting human drinking water,” it stated in its response, arguing that the EPA’s advisory levels for PFAS “are not appropriate for use in identifying risk levels for ingestion of food sources.”

Like the state, some in the Clovis community have turned to litigation as a recourse. This fall, the Curry County government approved a motion to sue the Defense Department for groundwater contamination. And Schaap himself is suing the Air Force for damages, as well as the manufacturers of PFAS chemicals.

Beyond Curry County, there’s increasing demand for federal solutions to both regulate PFAS exposure and clean up contaminated sites. Democrats in the U.S. House are pushing a legislative package that would require the EPA to set a drinking water standard for PFAS and require cleanup at military bases and other sites under the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation and Liability Act of 1980, often called the Superfund program. While there is bipartisan support for addressing PFAS contamination, Senate Republicans, in particular, have been skeptical of an aggressive approach to PFAS regulation, so the fate of this effort is unclear.

Schaap is the only Clovis farmer to speak out publicly about the groundwater contamination, but he’s not the only one affected. The reliable water resources of the vast Ogallala aquifer, which stretches beneath eight states, drew many dairy farmers to the area. Curry County is the state leader in milk production and one of the top 20 counties nationally, with over $340 million in annual sales.

At least two other Clovis dairy farms have found PFAS in their well water at levels below the health advisory. Three other farmers joined Schaap in signing a letter to New Mexico Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham asking the state to require the Air Force to treat water needed for irrigation and dairy operations and to control the migration of PFAS from the base into the groundwater.

Walter Bradley, a representative from the Dairy Farmers of America, the largest dairy marketing co-op in the nation, presented its concerns about PFAS to a meeting of the New Mexico legislature’s Radioactive and Hazardous Materials Committee in early November.

“It’s getting into the food chain,” Bradley told lawmakers. “And if you let it get into the food chain, you’ve got a major issue.”

Bradley is also concerned about the PFAS-contaminated groundwater moving toward one of the largest cheese plants in the world, Southwest Cheese, which is also located in Clovis and processes milk from many local dairy farms.

A year and a half ago, Schaap knew nothing about PFAS. He’s been forced to educate himself and has now traveled to Washington, D.C., to try to educate lawmakers.

“I’ve raised multiple generations of animals on this bad water,” he said. “It’s in their blood, it’s in their bodies, it’s in their meat.”

For now he’s using water from a small well adjacent to his farm for the cows and buying feed from another farm. The U.S. Department of Agriculture recently told him that if his cows test below a certain level of PFAS in their blood after a waiting period, he may be able to sell them for meat. He hopes he can avoid euthanizing them.

His farm is now “worth nothing,” Schaap said. He wants the government to buy his land and his water rights and to work to clean up the contamination. But he knows he’ll never raise cows or crops here again.

Lead image: Art Schaap has been force to lay off 35 employees, and his 4,000 cows — not to mention his family’s health and livelihood — are in limbo. Two other dairy farms in Clovis, a town of about 40,000 on the state’s eastern edge, were also found to have PFAS contamination in their groundwater, and others are concerned about the spreading plume. Photo by Don J. Usner for Searchlight New Mexico.

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