By Alliance President Terry Gips
We want to share both the poignant letter to the editor by Dana Strande (“No one else’s daughter has to die”) and this Take Action from our partner, Clean Water Action MN. CWA MN led the effort to pass and then protect Amara’s Law, the nation’s toughest ban on PFAS chemicals, named after Dana’s daughter who led the fight against PFAS while dying from it.
Clean Water Action MN worked on this historic effort with the family of Amara Strande. The Alliance joined them in the fight, along with many of you who signed our Take Actions. Now we need to do it all over again because the chemical industry will be back when the next legislative session begins in February.
Too often advocates are critical of elected officials, but when they do something right, it’s important to say thank you and acknowledge their good work. That’s what we’re asking you to do because the chemical industry and industrial polluters will be returning with their high-priced lobbyists to weaken and gut as much of Amara’s Law as they can.
The industry is seeking to stop the continued implementation of Amara’s Law in Minnesota and block it from spreading to other states. Meanwhile, Australia, Japan, England and France are all looking to Minnesota as a global leader in PFAS regulation. You can make an out-sized difference by giving our legislators the gumption to hold strong and thereby inspire a global movement to stop the scourge of toxic PFAS forever chemicals.
Poignant Letter to the Star Tribune from Dana Strande
“I am writing not as an expert or a policymaker but as a mother who buried her daughter.
My daughter, Amara, died of a rare and aggressive cancer. She was young. She was creative. She loved fiercely. Like most families, we trusted that the water she drank and the systems meant to protect public health would not quietly harm her. We were wrong.
We believe the chemicals that contributed to her illness were not accidents. They were the result of corporate decisions — made over decades — to innovate, manufacture and profit without adequate regard for human cost. Substances were released into our environment even as evidence of harm accumulated.
What makes this moment especially painful is that, instead of strengthening protections, some lawmakers are now proposing to dismantle them. This January, a bill is expected to be introduced in Congress that would weaken — or even dissolve — the Toxic Substances Control Act of 1976, one of the few federal laws designed to regulate industrial chemicals before they harm the public.
To strip away protections now is to ignore the lessons written in the bodies of our children.
No company should be allowed to externalize its risks onto families. No innovation is worth a child’s life. No profit margin justifies poisoning communities while delaying accountability.
This is not about being anti-business. It is about insisting that innovation and responsibility walk hand in hand. We can demand safer alternatives, stronger oversight and transparency — if we choose to value people over profit.
I live every day with the absence of my daughter. I write so other parents will not have to.”
Dana Strande, Woodbury
Time to Take Action with a Simple Thank You
Please join the Alliance in sending Clean Water Action’s quick thank-you message to Minnesota legislators who protected Amara’s Law and our right to clean water as an important step towards co-creating a PFAS-free future.