Cookware Alliance Sues to Block MN Ban of Cookware Containing Added PFAS

The Cookware Sustainability Alliance (CSA) announced on January 9, 2025, that it had filed a lawsuit in the U.S. District Court for the District of Minnesota against the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency (MPCA) challenging the state ban on the sale of cookware with intentionally added per- and poly-fluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) and requesting a preliminary injunction to prohibit enforcement of the ban. See CSA v. Kessler (No. 0:25-cv-00041). The law, Minn. Stat. § 116.943, better known as Amara’s Law, prohibits the sale of certain products—including cookware—with intentionally added PFAS, effective January 1, 2025. CSA filed the lawsuit on January 6.

In the lawsuit, CSA asserts that Amara’s Law violates the Constitution’s Commerce Clause, in part because 100% of cookware with intentionally added PFAS is manufactured, distributed, and sold from outside Minnesota. The Alliance also maintains that the statute violates the Constitution’s First Amendment because it requires CSA’s members to divulge protected trade secrets “without meaningful controls against public disclosure.”

In a press release about the lawsuit, CSA explains that fluoropolymers, which the law defines as “PFAS,” are a class of chemicals commonly used in coatings on nonstick cookware and that they are “fundamentally different compounds” from the types of chemicals that have motivated concerns about PFAS generally. The Alliance stated that it has offered to work with Minnesota to secure an exemption for fluoropolymer-coated nonstick cookware because of their low-risk profile, adding that fluoropolymers are non-toxic and have been deemed safe for use in food contact surfaces by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration and other regulatory bodies.