The Overview

If you ever land in a Massachusetts hospital bed, the intravenous bag you may be given will now have to be free of a plastic-softening chemical you never wanted in your bloodstream. Massachusetts Gov. Maura Healey signed the Toxic-Free Medical Devices Act, formally "An Act relative to toxic-free medical devices," into law on July 25. Di(2-ethylhexyl) phthalate, a plasticizer, can leach out of medical equipment and into fluids delivered directly to patients, and a peer-review study by *PLOS One* found it in 98 percent of the devices it tested, with exposure a particular concern for premature infants, children, pregnant patients, and people undergoing dialysis or transfusions.

The full text of the Toxic-Free Medical Devices Act prohibits manufacturing, selling, or introducing into commerce intravenous solution containers with the intentionally added plasticizer starting Jan. 1, 2030, and intravenous tubing products starting Jan. 1, 2035. Trace amounts of the plasticizer are allowed only if they serve no functional or technical purpose and make up no more than 0.1 percent of the product by weight, and the Toxic-Free Medical Devices Act bars replacing it with another ortho-phthalate in a new or revised intravenous solution container or tubing product, while excluding human blood collection or storage bags and apheresis and cell therapy blood kits and bags.

The Demo

Massachusetts has about 7.04 million residents across roughly 2.79 million households. About 97 percent of Massachusetts residents have health insurance, according to the Census Bureau's 2024 American Community Survey five-year estimates, which put the uninsured rate at 2.6 percent. About 12 percent of Massachusetts residents have a disability, and 10 percent live below the poverty line, according to U.S. Census Bureau five-year estimates for 2024.

The Debate

The Massachusetts House passed the bill 139 to 0 on July 1, 2026. The Senate concurred in the House amendment on July 16, 2026.

Sen. Joan B. Lovely, a cosponsor, said: "Patients should never have to worry that the tools meant to heal them are exposing them to a cancer-linked chemical, especially when safe alternatives already exist." Rep. James J. O'Day said the bill "reduces unnecessary exposure to [the plasticizer] in medical devices while giving hospitals and providers the flexibility needed for a responsible transition to safer alternatives."

What's Next

Makers and sellers must comply by Jan. 1, 2030, for intravenous solution containers and by Jan. 1, 2035, for intravenous tubing products. The law establishes no dedicated implementation fund, no designated enforcement agency, and no provider-approval process.

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