FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
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BALTIMORE, MD — Attorney General Anthony G. Brown joined a multistate comment letter to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) urging the Agency to continue to monitor and study the prevalence and impacts of microplastics in drinking water.
The comment letter, which was led by New Jersey Attorney General Jennifer Davenport, was signed by 14 attorneys general and follows action last fall by governors who petitioned the EPA for action on microplastics.
The list, called the Contaminant Candidate List (CCL), contains contaminants that the EPA has identified as those with potential public health concerns that are known or expected in public water systems, and thus may require future regulation under the Safe Drinking Water Act. The CCL, which is published every five years, is a mechanism for identifying priority contaminants for further study. The inclusion of microplastics in this iteration of the CCL will help advance our understanding of the impacts of microplastics on public health.
The attorneys general also echoed a petition from seven governors, including Governor Wes Moore, sent to the EPA in November 2025 calling on the Agency to add microplastics to the Unregulated Contaminant Monitoring Rule (UCMR). Including microplastics in the next iteration of the UCMR, expected to be finalized by the end of 2026, would allow the EPA to monitor the presence of microplastics in drinking water by collecting data directly from public water systems nationwide.
The Danger of Microplastics
Microplastics—tiny, often invisible particles less than 5 millimeters in diameter—pose unique public health concerns due to their suspected prevalence and ability to accumulate and persist in the environment. As the comment letter notes, infants and children are at greater risk of exposure to microplastics than adults, starting in utero and continuing through exposure through diet, feeding equipment, toys, and inhalation of airborne particles.
A growing body of research indicates that microplastics can harm human health, and exposure occurs through a variety of pathways, including drinking water. Microplastics can also act as vectors for other toxic chemicals to enter the body, and exposure has been linked to a variety of health effects, including respiratory issues, inflammation, and impaired fetal growth and developmental impacts in children. Despite these known risks and documented presence in drinking water, details regarding the prevalence, characteristics, and concentration of microplastics in our country’s drinking water systems remain understudied.
Joining Attorney General Brown are the attorneys general of California, Connecticut, Delaware, Illinois, Massachusetts, Michigan, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Oregon, Vermont, Virginia, and Wisconsin.
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