However, the Health and Human Services secretary appears unable or unwilling to implement plans to address that issue. While he previously criticized the country’s “chemical-industrial agriculture” model, RFK Jr. has not proposed actions to reduce pesticides in food. In fact, he recently gave assurances to industry representatives that backpedaled on his past statements. And the Environmental Protection Agency, which has the primary authority to reduce pesticide use, has been approving new pesticides and aiming to bring back others that had been banned or restricted, like dicamba.
But policymakers at the state level aren’t waiting for federal action. Across a wide political spectrum, lawmakers — shored up by concerned parents — are making significant progress.
The National Caucus of Environmental Legislators reports, for example, that so far in 2025 lawmakers in 37 states — from Alabama to Iowa to New Jersey — have proposed legislation aimed at reducing perfluoroalkyl and polyfluoroalkyl substances, or PFAS. Added to items from cookware to firefighting foam and known as “forever chemicals” due to their persistence in the environment, PFAS are linked with a range of serious health problems.
There are many more examples of state action across the country and across political perspectives. Arkansas, for instance, now requires warning labels on hair relaxer products that contain certain toxic chemicals.
This action at the state level is not new. For several decades, Congress has been gridlocked on environmental health protections, while lobbying and lawsuits have halted most regulatory actions. To fill these gaps, some statehouses have taken up the slack — and this pattern is growing.
State-led efforts have appeal across the political spectrum. For those who dislike federal intrusion into local matters, this movement prioritizes the preferences of states’ residents. For those troubled by the inadequacy of federal protections, state action offers an alternate route to protecting communities from pollution and toxic chemicals.
States that are starting to take steps in this direction can learn from successful policies elsewhere. When it comes to protecting children from pesticides, Texas was already in the lead, with a farsighted law that requires every school district to implement policies and practices to reduce pesticide use. It girds this mandate with extensive education, technical assistance and enforcement.
Massachusetts’ Toxics Use Reduction Act requires industrial facilities that manufacture, process or otherwise use certain toxic chemicals to report their use and develop strategies to reduce harm. As with Texas’ pesticide law, a partnership among state agencies, a university and industry ensures that the latest know-how is developed and applied.
State efforts to protect their residents’ health are by no means limited to regulating harmful chemicals. In Tennessee, representatives of 24 state agencies, departments and commissions that impact health — from environment, conservation and agriculture to education and human services — meet regularly to get to know each other’s work and identify opportunities for collaboration.
A leading example of what is known as “health in all policies,“ Tennessee’s effort breaks down silos that are often found in government. Cross-departmental collaboration aims to coordinate services for food, housing and transit. Transportation staff work with health officials, so opportunities for safe walking and bicycling are included in road planning.
Regional efforts are on the rise too. When a group of states that share climate and culture join forces, they can accomplish more than they can singly. The Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative of northeastern and mid-Atlantic states has successfully reduced warming emissions through a structure in which participants share resources, achieving greater efficiency and cost-effectiveness. And the Southeast Regional Partnership for Planning and Sustainability brings together environmental and military officials from six states to sustain both natural resources and national defense assets in the region. The program has leveraged private funding to protect and restore more than 1.3 million acres of land while preserving mission-critical infrastructure and capabilities.
Many of these best-practice policies have been evaluated, so information on outcomes and lessons learned is available. Common contributors to successful state initiatives include environmental health education and analyses that examine a broad range of costs and benefits of policies.
RFK Jr. talks a good game about “making America healthy again.” But governors and state legislators are actually getting it done.
Susan Kaplan is an environmental health lawyer and professor. She is the author of the forthcoming book A Healthy Union: How States Can Lead on Environmental Health.
Governing’s opinion columns reflect the views of their authors and not necessarily those of Governing’s editors or management.
