News Archives
Natural Foodie: Homemade baby food offers nutrition, safety, savings
Avery Yale Kamila, February 29, 2012
Two weeks ago, a coalition of public health and environmental organizations in Maine released a study of BPA in baby food. It concluded that of 12 jars of baby food sampled, 11 contained BPA. BPA, or bisphenol-A, is a chemical used in plastics that has been linked to learning disabilities, obesity, cancer, early puberty in girls and male infertility.
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Tests find BPA in baby food in Maine; group launches effort to further curb chemicals use
Bangor Daily News, February 14, 2012
style=”margin-top: 10px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: 0px; outline-width: 0px; outline-style: initial; outline-color: initial; vertical-align: baseline; background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; font-family: georgia, tahoma, verdana, arial; text-align: left; font-size: 14px; color: #000000; line-height: 18px; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; padding: 0px; border: 0px initial initial;”>AUGUSTA, Maine — A coalition of Maine health and environmental groups is preparing to launch the next campaign against bisphenol-A, or BPA, on the heels of tests that found the controversial chemical additive in 11 of 12 samples of baby food in the state.
Additionally, coalition members are accusing some prominent baby food manufacturers of violating or attempting to evade Maine’s BPA disclosure rules.
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Maine manufacturers forced to report use of BPA and other toxic chemicals in toys, paints
Bangor Daily News, December 14, 2011
Environmental health advocates on Tuesday called for congressional action to outlaw certain chemicals after the release of a report identifying more than 650 brand name products that contain the toxins.
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Maine Report Lists Hundreds of Products Containing Toxic Chemicals
MPBN, December 13, 2011
Maine is among just a handful of states that require manufacturers to report the use of certain chemicals in their products. It also has the earliest deadine for companies to report. This week the results are in, and more than 650 products are on the list. Business representatives and state regulators say the reported presence of the chemicals does not indicate there’s a risk present. But health advocates say the list will help consumers protect their health from chemicals that leach out of products.
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Maine advocates want Collins/Snowe to support update to chemicals safety law
Portland Press Herald, November 17, 2011
The Alliance for a Clean and Healthy Maine wants Sens. Olympia Snowe and Susan Collins to support legislation by Democratic Sen. Frank Lautenberg of New Jersey updating how chemicals are regulated by the federal government.
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Toxic chemicals all around us, Lewiston panelists say
Sun Journal, November 16, 2011
LEWISTON — The products in front of Steve Taylor seemed innocent enough: a rubber duck, a few tin cans, a glass jar of baby food and plastic water bottles. Each, however, contained chemicals that could be harmful to human health and are largely unregulated by the government, the program director for the Environmental Health Strategy Center told a crowd in a Central Maine Medical Center conference room Tuesday evening during a workshop on chemicals found in everyday life.
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Coalition members urge senators’ support for toxic control act
Bangor Daily News, November 16, 2011
It wasn’t convenient to drive two hours from southern Maine in the middle of the week for Emma Halas-O’Connor and Tracy Gregoire, but they weren’t about to slack off when a big goal was in sight. Their purpose was to promote the passage of the Safe Chemicals Act of 2011, which is the subject of U.S. Senate hearings on Thursday, and urge Maine Sens. Susan Collins and Olympia Snowe to back the bill.
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Demonstrators Urge Maine Senators to Support Consumer Protection Bill
WVII News, November 16, 2011
BANGOR - Proponents of federal legislation that would overhaul exiting law regulating toxic substances in consumer products rallied in downtown Bangor Wednesday. Members of the Alliance for a Clean and Healthy Maine gathered outside the Margaret Chase Smith federal building, urging Senators Susan Collins and Olympia Snowe to co-sponsor the Safe Chemicals Act of 2011 ahead of an upcoming Senate hearing.
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It’s time for a better federal chemical safety law
Bangor Daily News - Editorial, November 15, 2011
When Maine lawmakers several years ago considered banning some chemicals deemed harmful to health that were used in products sold here, one of the first arguments made in opposition was that such action would result in a patchwork quilt of regulations among the 50 states. Such inconsistencies would make it difficult for manufacturers and ultimately cut Maine off from some products, which in turn would hurt businesses and consumers. Enforcement also would be a problem, critics of the proposal also charged.
Banning BPA a wise decision for Maine
Portland Press Herald, September 4, 2010
Parents today are faced with a new dilemma: How do we know what products on the store shelves are safe for our kids? I’d like to be able to tell parents that there’s no need to worry — that there’s a coordinated national system in place that requires chemicals to be tested for safety before they are used in children’s products, that requires manufacturers to disclose the chemical components of their products, and that requires dangerous chemicals to be quickly phased out in favor of safer alternatives. Sadly, that’s simply not the case. As a result, parents are left in the dark and children are left at risk.
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Dozens speak in favor of BPA ban
WLBZ2 Bangor, August 20, 2010
A public hearing on a proposed ban of the chemical Bisphenol-A or BPA from baby bottles, sippy cups and other products drew a large crowd in Augusta.
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Chemical Ban Debated
WABI TV5 Bangor, August 20, 2010
The chemical Bisphenol-A also called, BPA could top Maine’s worst of the worst toxic chemicals list. In Augusta Thursday the board of environmental protection (BEP) heard from dozens of people who support the ban of BPA in children’s products.
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Mothers speak out against controversial chemical
Kennebec Journal, August 20, 2010
Cheryl Denis of Portland is worried about the health of her two young girls. She testified Thursday before the state’s Board of Environmental Protection in support of proposed rules to ban the sale of baby bottles, sippy cups and sports bottles that contain the chemical bisphenol-A.
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Leader of mothers group testifies against using chemical in kids stuff
Portland Press Herald, August 20, 2010
“Would any of us knowingly give our children estrogen, even in small doses, every day?” said Denis, leader of Mom to Mom of Maine, a group of 275 mothers in southern Maine.
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Regulators hear testimony supporting bisphenol-A ban
Bangor Daily News, August 20, 2010
Maine environmental regulators are considering the ban by making BPA Maine’s first “Priority Chemical” under the Kid-Safe Products Act of 2008.
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Crowd supports proposed BPA ban in baby bottles, sippy cups
Capital Weekly, August 20, 2010
Calling bisphenol A (BPA) one of the “worst-of-the-worst” toxic chemicals in consumer products, a large crowd of parents, scientists, doctors, nurses, business owners, and environmental health advocates expressed a resounding show of support at the Thursday, Aug. 19, hearing regarding the Department of Environmental Protection’s proposal to name BPA as Maine’s first “priority chemical” under the landmark Kid-Safe Products Act of 2008.
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Group Supports BPA Ban in Maine
Fox 23 Portland, August 20, 2010
A group of parents, doctors, and environmentalists voiced their concerns about the chemical BPA at a public hearing on Thursday.
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Should we be concerned about BPA?
Brunswick Times Record, July 7, 2010
A May 13 letter to the DEP from Dr. Dora Anne Mills, state health officer and director of the Maine Center for Disease Control and Prevention, concludes that there’s enough evidence to list BPA as the first “priority chemical” to be so designated under Maine’s Toxic Chemicals in Children’s Products law.
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Maine weighs ban on BPA
Associated Press, June 18, 2010
Add Maine to the list of states considering whether to ban bottles made with bisphenol A. The Maine Department of Environmental Protection is proposing the ban on BPA in reusable food or beverage containers to take effect in January 2012.
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Maine board weighs BPA bottle ban
Bangor Daily News, June 18, 2010
Maine could become the latest state to ban the sale of baby bottles and other reusable food and beverage containers made with bisphenol A under the first test of a relatively new state law allowing regulators to target potentially harmful chemicals.
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Maine DEP Recommends Ban on Bisphenol-A
MPBN, June 17, 2010
The Maine Department of Environmental Protection has recommended that a controversial chemical building block in some plastic materials be banned from all reusable food or beverage containers sold in the state. The recommendation to list Bisphenol-A as a priority chemical was originally put forth as part of the 2008 Maine’s Kids Safe Products Act. But this is the first time the state has moved to ban a chemical under the new law.
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D.E.P. Proposes Ban on BPA
WABI-TV5 News Desk, June 17, 2010
Maine’s Department of Environmental Protection is proposing a ban on the use of the chemical known as BPA.
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Chemicals and Cancer
Bangor Daily News- editorial, May 24, 2010
The role synthetic chemicals in the human environment play in causing cancer has been “grossly underestimated,” the President’s Cancer Panel has concluded. In a recent letter to President Barack Obama, the panel urged him “most strongly to use the power of your office to remove the carcinogens and other toxins from our food, water and air” that needlessly increase health care costs “and devastate our lives.”
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Study: Harmful additives found in canned food
Bangor Daily News, May 20, 2010
Environmental health advocates in Maine released a new national study earlier this week showing that canned foods and beverages absorb potentially dangerous amounts of bisphenol A, or BPA, from the cans’ epoxy lining.
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Penobscot River savior set environmentalist standard
Bangor Daily News, May 17, 2010
Maine lost a groundbreaking environmentalist — and the Penobscot River a crucial protector — with the recent death at 84 of Francis W. Hatch Jr. of Castine and Boston. His extraordinary environmental activism stemmed in large part from his love of his family’s saltwater farm on the Penobscot River and would ultimately — and repeatedly — save the river itself.
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Toxics Lurking in Men’s Personal Care Products
MPBN, May 4, 2010
“Pass Interference! The chemical phthalates are causing hormone havoc!” This is the set of a skit that the Alliance for a Clean and Healthy Maine is filming at a Portland food store, a skit that they plan to post online. Steven Taylor of the advocacy group, the Environmental Health Strategy Center, wears a referee outfit as he storms in on a handful of guys watching sports.
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A New Approach to Fighting Maine’s Invisible Enemy
Bangor Daily News, April 29, 2010
For those of us who lived through the 1950s, the slogan “Better Living Through Chemistry” pervaded the airways and invaded our living rooms on that miraculous new invention, the TV set. The blissful ignorance of that decade has since been replaced by scores of reasons to be concerned about the chemicals our families are exposed to every day, their consequences and costs.
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Potato plastics group pushes for R&D support
Mainebiz, March 18, 2010
A Bangor-based consortium investigating the possibility of making environmentally safe and sustainable plastics from potatoes and wood chips is asking Maine’s congressional delegation to find $1.25 million in federal appropriations that could help commercialize the burgeoning new technology by next year.
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Get Tough on Toxic Chemicals
Bangor Daily News, January 6, 2010
Two state agencies, the Department of Environmental Protection and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, earned our respect last year by designating 1,700 toxic substances as chemicals of high concern. Several environmental-health scientists whose research has identified such chemicals are the subject of two recent books.
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Kid-Safe Products Law Far From Childs Play
Capital Weekly, December 21, 2009
The BEP hearing regarding the full implementation of Maine’s Kid-Safe Products Law drew a large crowd Thursday, Dec. 17 to the Augusta Civic Center. “It is my job to raise healthy children,” said Laura Thompson-Brady. “It is becoming impossible and unrealistic for parents to shop their way out of this problem.” The young mother was referring to toxic chemicals found in products designed for youth.
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Congresswoman Pingree Introduces DECA Ban
Channel 13, December 18, 2009
Congresswoman Chellie Pingree introduces a bill to ban DecaBDE, a flame retardant found in many consumer products and linked to significant health problems.
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Congresswoman Pingree Pushes to Phase Out DECA
Maine Public Broadcasting Network, December 18, 2009
Two weeks from now, a new state law will take effect that bans the use of a controversial flame retardant in products sold in Maine. But Congresswoman Chellie Pingree wants to broaden the ban to all fifty states, and assure that the chemical, DecaBDE, is removed from all household products sold in the U.S.
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Chemical Policy Fires Up Public
WABI TV5, December 17, 2009
“The chemical industry acts like the tobacco industry sowing the seeds of doubt and manufacturing confusion in hopes of buying time and delaying the inevitable which is that Maine people want and need safer products,” Mike Belliveau, executive director, Environmental Health Strategy Center
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State’s Toxics Effort Weighed
Morning Sentinel, December 17, 2009
Maine’s plan to be one of the first states to track and regulate toxic chemicals in toys and other children’s products drew praise and criticism at a public hearing Thursday. Laura Thompson Brady, of Hallowell, was among the parents, physicians and other supporters who said it’s time to make manufacturers disclose the presence of toxic chemicals in teething rings, dolls, car seats and other products.
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Maine has to do More to Prevent Toxic Products from Harming Kids
Portland Press Herald, December 15, 2009
Congratulations to Maine for again leading the nation in a rational approach to preventing toxic chemicals’ effects on our children, especially babies. Special concerns are phthalates and BPA in everything from IVs in newborn nurseries to toys and baby food packaging. Evidence mounts daily suggesting damage to animal embryos and now to human fetal development.
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A Seasonal Check for Toy Toxicity
Morning Sentinel, December 9, 2009
Kristine Jenkins pointed the device down at the plastic pink phone made by Disney, holding it in place for 30 seconds as the device’s little red light blinked and numbers materialized on a small screen. Corinne Pace, of Fairfield, looked on with interest; the toy phone belonged to her 4-year-old granddaughter, Skylar.
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Federal Chemicals Policy a Gift That Would Keep on Giving
Bangor Daily News, December 4, 2009
Dear Santa,
I know this is a busy time of year for you and most of your letters come from children rather than their parents, but I am compelled to write to you, because there is something I really want for Christmas — a healthy future for my family.
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State Officials Say Federal Toxics Laws Too Weak
Bangor Daily News, December 3, 2009
Environmental officials in Maine and a dozen other states issued a statement Wednesday saying federal laws to protect the public from toxic chemicals are too weak and states instead are leading the way. The joint statement asks for changes in national laws so they will protect vulnerable populations by identifying and regulating the most troubling chemicals in consumer items and elsewhere.
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Toxic Chemicals Found in Maine Health Workers
Bangor Daily News, October 20, 2009
Doctors and nurses in 10 states, including Maine, tested positive for at least 24 different toxic chemicals in their blood and other body fluids in a study released Thursday.
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Postcards for the Senator
WABI TV5, October 19, 2009
The State of Maine is leading the way on clean chemicals and a safe environment for kids. That is why a group showed up at the office of Senator Olympia Snowe in Bangor this morning. They wanted to make sure that Maine was the guideline used for the nation. More than fifteen hundred signed postcards were delivered to Senator Snowe’s office from the Alliance for a Clean and Healthy Maine.
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For Toxic-Chemical Reformist, Vindication
Portland Press Herald, October 3, 2009
Deborah Rice couldn’t help feeling a bit vindicated this week when the head of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency called for an overhaul of the nation’s toxic-chemical control law. The announcement was long overdue, according to Maine’s state toxicologist. And Maine appears to have helped bring it about, by becoming the first state to adopt its own toxic-chemical control law.
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State Identifies Toxic Chemicals
Bangor Daily News, July 18, 2009
The Maine Department of Environmental Protection and the Maine Center for Disease Control and Prevention on Friday released a list of about 1,700 “chemicals of high concern” — substances that pose a significant risk to human health that also are used in manufacturing common consumer goods.
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Bangor protest targets unsafe baby products, chemical bisphenol-A
Bangor Daily News, June 17, 2009
People who happened to be passing through the intersection of Union and Hammond streets at noon Tuesday may have been distracted by the presence of a 20-foot-tall inflatable baby bottle. The bottle was tethered to the sidewalk across the street from the Rite Aid store. A small group of people ringed the base of the bottle, carrying signs that read, “Safe Products: Good for Families” and “Safe Products: Good for Business.”
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Kid-Safe Products Law a Prescription for Mainers’ Good Health
Morning Sentinel, March 26, 2009
As health professionals, the last thing we would do is prescribe a sex hormone to a pregnant patient and her developing fetus. Yet we are all exposed regularly to the chemical called bisphenol-A and a host of other hormone-disrupting toxic chemicals that are in products we use every day.
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R&D bonds are critical for economic growth in Maine
Bangor Daily News - Editorial, November 30, -0001
No one is a fan of household debt, so we understand the concerns of many Mainers about state government using bonds to purchase things that are considered wants, not needs. However, research and development bonds are debt for purchases that will benefit Maine families in the long run, like your house or education. It is appropriate for Maine to use bonds to fund R&D that leads to innovation for Maine companies and therefore create more jobs for Maine residents.
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