Gov. JB Pritzker signed a proposal into law Friday to ban companies from manufacturing, selling and distributing firefighter protective gear that contain forever chemicals.

SPRINGFIELD, Ill. (WAND) — Gov. JB Pritzker signed a proposal into law Friday to ban companies from manufacturing, selling and distributing firefighter protective gear that contain forever chemicals.

The law requires companies selling protective equipment containing PFAS to provide written notice of why the chemicals are added to the gear by the end of the year. Illinois will ban people from selling any PPE containing forever chemicals to fire departments starting January 1, 2027.

Rep. Mike Kelly, a Chicago firefighter, filed the plan after seeing research that shows many people on the front lines are dying due to their standard gear.

"Although the fire service has known that PFAS were contained in our protective gear since at least 2018, nothing was done about it until state laws and litigation started to affect the bottom line of these manufacturers," said Steve Shetsky from the Associated Firefighters of Illinois.

Manufacturers that sell auxiliary protective gear will be banned from knowingly selling or distributing the gear intentionally containing PFAS starting January 1, 2030. 

State lawmakers passed a bill in 2021 to eliminate a type of firefighting foam that contained toxic chemicals. That law established the PFAS disposal program and created civil penalties for failure to comply with the ban.

"House Bill 2409 builds upon the act by addressing concerns regarding the PPE and intends to eliminate the sale of turnout gear containing PFAS and improve long-term health risks that firefighters face," Kelly said.

The new law gained unanimous support in the House and Senate. 

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