State legislator to introduce bill to strengthen toxics law

Mother tested for phthalates says Maine DEP ignored science and risk to pregnant women in recent rule-making Parents, nurses, fire fighters, and scientists to join call for stronger law.

AUGUSTA — Maine parents, physicians, fire fighters, and public health professionals have been concerned about what they are calling "a failure to follow clear legislative intent" in recent toxic chemical rules created by Maine's Department of Environmental Protection (DEP). State legislators are now joining the call for strengthening Maine's Kid-Safe Products Act in order to clarify that both children and pregnant women are intended to be considered in all rule-making.

Representative Sara Gideon (D-Freeport), will be introducing her "Healthy Kids Bill" at a 12:30 press conference Wednesday in the State House. Gideon's bill would require the DEP to include products that threaten the health of both children and pregnant women in any rule, including their most recent rule on four phthalates, in accordance with existing state authority.

Gideon's bill is also borrowing some successful elements from other states' laws in order to respond to parents' request for better information about which products contain dangerous chemicals and if there are safer alternatives to some of the worst chemicals in common products.

"Maine's primary vehicle for protecting kids and families from dangerous toxic chemicals – the Kid-Safe Products Act – is being repeatedly misused," says Emma Halas-O'Connor, Campaign Manager for the Alliance for a Clean and Healthy Maine. "This law was designed to use the strongest scientific information to protect kids and pregnant women from toxic chemicals that cause disease and disability, but the DEP is showing a pattern of severely limiting the scope of all recent rule-making, as evidenced by their latest rule on phthalates. This leaves pregnant women at risk and that's unacceptable."

WHAT: Press conference introducing the Healthy Kids Bill

WHEN: Wednesday, March 4 at 12:30 PM

WHERE: Taxation Committee Room #127, State House, Augusta

WHO:

· Sara Gideon, State Representative from Freeport and mother of young children

· Mike Nixon, Professional Fire Fighters of Maine

· Jessica Graham, mother of two young boys from Waterville

· Helen Peake-Godin, Registered Nurse and professor of nursing at University of Southern Maine

· Gail Carlson, professor of environmental studies at Colby College

· Emma Halas O'Connor, Campaign Manager, Environmental Health Strategy Center

WHAT ELSE: Examples of products that will and won't be covered under the DEP's proposed phthalates rul
BACKGROUND:
In January the Maine Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) proposed extensive changes to a citizen-led proposal to name four phthalates as Priority Chemicals under Maine's Kid-Safe Products Act and require manufacturers to report their use in household products sold in Maine.

Phthalates are commonly used in consumer products found in the home. They are used in soft vinyl plastics, such as lunch boxes, kids' backpacks, school supplies, rain jackets, packaging, and flooring. They are also hidden behind the word "fragrance", where they end up in cosmetics, lotions, and other personal care products.

Phthalates are toxic chemicals that disrupt testosterone and thyroid hormones, harm the brain and the immune system, and threaten early childhood development and reproductive health. Human health studies show that exposure causes birth defects of male sex organs, sperm damage, learning and behavior problems, and asthma and allergies.

The Alliance for a Clean and Healthy Maine is a coalition of over 50 public health, medical, parent, community, women's, worker, environmental, and public interest organizations dedicated to protecting public health and the environment by replacing unnecessary dangerous chemicals with safer alternatives. www.cleanandhealthyme.org.

Canaan Republican introduces bill to fix outdated law restricting common knives

AUGUSTA — A bill to fix an antiquated law that restricts the possession and sale of certain types of knives in Maine had a public hearing this morning. Rep. Joel Stetkis (R) of Canaan introduced LD 264 "An Act To Restore the Right To Possess Certain Knives That Are Used by Many Citizens as Tools."

Rep. Stetkis gave a detailed presentation to the members of the Criminal Justice and Public Safety which included some of his own knives that he uses in his day-to-day life as a self-employed contractor that are technically illegal.

A decades old Maine law criminalizes the possession of what are known as "dangerous knives." Those are described in statute as "any knife that has a blade that opens automatically by hand pressure applied to a button, spring or other device in the handle of the knife, or any knife having a blade that opens or falls or is ejected into position by the force of gravity, or by an outward, downward or centrifugal thrust or movement." This description applies to many of the knives commonly used as by contractors, hunters, fishermen or by folks who use them around their homes as a tool.

Representative Stetkis told committee members stories he's heard from constituents who have been charged with a Class D crime, punishable by up to one year in jail and a $2,000 fine, for having a knife or tool in their possession that violates this law.

One man told Rep. Stetkis he was given a pocket knife as a Christmas gift that was purchased at a Maine sporting goods store. During a routine traffic stop he notified the police officer he had the pocket knife. Upon inspecting the knife, the officer issued the man summons and confiscated the knife.

All of the people Rep. Stetkis has spoken with had no idea the knives they've been using their entire lives are illegal. Many of these folks bought the knives in Maine stores such as Cabellas, Home Depot and Dick's Sporting Goods, retailers who also had no idea they were violating Maine law. Considering this archaic statute also bans the "display, sale, lending or purchasing..." of one of these knives there appears to be more confusion than ever among merchants and Maine citizens over which knives are legal and which are not, according to a news release.

"The fact of the matter is, this law is causing far more harm to law abiding Mainers than the intended good I'm sure the original crafters of the bill had in mind," said Rep. Stetkis in the news release. "I showed the committee a knife I bought right here in Augusta at Dick's Sporting Goods that, according to current Maine law, I can't have in my possession. This needs to be fixed. The bottom line is, a knife itself is only as dangerous as the person holding it."

Rep. Richard Pickett, (R) from East Dixfield, cosponsored the bill and also testified before the committee. Representative Pickett is a retired law enforcement officer who spent more than a decade as a homicide investigator for the Maine State Police. When asked what the most common knife used in homicides in Maine, Rep. Pickett told the committee "...a steak knife or a common kitchen knife."

A work session on the bill will be scheduled in the coming weeks. The committee may consider an amendment to the bill that would keep knives like switchblades and stilettos illegal.