# Amara Strande *Oakdale, Washington County, teenager for whom Minnesota's PFAS product statute, Minn. Stat. § 116.943, is named.* Amara Strande, of [[Oakdale]] in Washington County, [[Minnesota]], is the namesake of Minn. Stat. § 116.943, known as [[Amara's Law]].[^1] The statute bars intentionally added PFAS from eleven product categories effective January 1, 2025. In 2032 it extends to all such products, except "currently unavoidable uses."[^1] The project's at-issue record says Strande was diagnosed with a rare liver cancer at seventeen. That account comes from secondary sources, an analysis on fmjlaw.com and reporting by the Minnesota Reformer, not from a primary record.[^2] On December 14, 2022, the Minnesota Reformer reported on Oakdale's water contamination. Its reporting included accounts from Tartan High School, among them Strande's.[^2] ## Who Strande is identified as a Washington County teenager from Oakdale.[^1] Minnesota's PFAS product ban carries her name.[^1] The account of her diagnosis at seventeen comes from the project's at-issue record, which draws on news and analysis sources.[^2] The record does not give a date of diagnosis or a primary medical or official document confirming it.[^2] ## What Minn. Stat. § 116.943 operates as both a memorial and a regulatory instrument. It bars intentionally added PFAS from eleven product categories. From 2032, the bar extends to all products containing intentionally added PFAS, except "currently unavoidable uses."[^1] ## When - January 1, 2025: the eleven-category ban took effect.[^1] - 2032: the ban extends to all products containing intentionally added PFAS, subject to the "currently unavoidable uses" exception.[^1] ## Where Strande is from Oakdale, Washington County.[^1] The Minnesota Reformer's December 2022 reporting on Oakdale described the findings of a 2017 expert report by Sunding covering 2003 to 2015:[^2] - Oakdale children who died were 171% more likely to have had cancer. - Oakdale residents who died were 19% more likely to have had cancer. - Low-birth-weight and premature births were more than 30% more likely before filtration began in 2006. - Fertility was 16% lower. The Reformer also reported that the Minnesota Department of Health released its own report days before trial. It reported that leaked emails described the analysis as "rushed" and its data as "weak." According to the Reformer, the analysis was also called a "flawed, rudimentary analysis."[^2] ## In the at-issue record At-issue record AI-Washington-067 pairs the statute's name with the account of Strande's diagnosis. Its primary anchor is the statute itself, which the record describes as "the memorial and the instrument at once."[^1] The pairing places two facts side by side. The record does not establish a causal link between any PFAS exposure and her diagnosis, and this article does not draw one.[^1][^2] ## Notes [^1]: Minnesota Revisor of Statutes, *Minnesota Statutes, section 116.943* (current text) — the PFAS product statute known as Amara's Law; the eleven-category ban effective January 1, 2025; the 2032 extension with the "currently unavoidable uses" exception; primary anchor of at-issue record AI-Washington-067. https://www.revisor.mn.gov/statutes/cite/116.943 [^2]: Minnesota Reformer, *There must be something in the water* (Dec. 14, 2022) — reporting on Oakdale water contamination, including Tartan High School accounts that include Amara Strande, the 2017 Sunding expert report figures, and the Minnesota Department of Health report and leaked emails; a news source of the at-issue record's account of her diagnosis. https://minnesotareformer.com/2022/12/14/there-must-be-something-in-the-water/