Businesses ask lawmakers to relax state PFAS ban

By Penelope Overton | Press Herald | April 26, 2023

Read the full article by Penelope Overton (Press Herald)

"Business groups want lawmakers to roll back key provisions of the state’s first-in-the-nation ban on products containing harmful forever chemicals, claiming the new law is well-intentioned but too broad, too aggressive and too costly for them to follow.

Some want more time before they have to register products sold in Maine that contain per- and poly-fluoroalkyl substances, or PFAS, manmade chemicals that federal authorities say are harmful to humans. Some small businesses say they can’t afford to test their products for PFAS.

Others want Maine to tighten up its PFAS definition even though it would exempt newer but likely still harmful formulations. They want Maine to wait for science to sort out the harmful chemicals from the harmless ones rather than enact a blanket ban on all PFAS products in 2030."