Maine: Doctors say law protecting kids is a model

An op-ed in Maine’s Kennebec Journal makes a strong case that the state’s proposed solution to the broken chemical regulation system can be a national model to addressing the health threat toxic chemicals are posing to the entire country.

The Kid-Safe Products Law of 2008 is a giant step forward in protecting the public, especially children, from toxic chemical exposure through common consumer goods, according to op-ed authors Stephanie Lash, M.D. a neurologist in Bangor, ME and Daniel Oppenheim, Ph.D., M.D., an endocrinologist in Scarborough, ME.

The bill was passed with overwhelming support in the legislature and was signed into law in April 2008.

The doctors write:

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. Exposure can lead to expensive chronic disease and disability. As a result, we believe that getting these dangerous toxic chemicals off the shelves and out of our bodies must be a top priority.
Bisphenol-A (BPA) is a widely used chemical with profound health implications. It is used in hard plastic bottles and in the resins that line canned goods. It can show up in many everyday consumer products, including those meant for children, like sippy cups, baby bottles, water bottles, infant formula cans and other food packaging.

Studies show that BPA is present in more than 95 percent of us and scientists have found that even very low blood levels of BPA have significant effects on the workings of our body's complex hormonal systems.

BPA is present in breast milk, amniotic fluid (the fluid surrounding developing fetuses) and fetal blood. Developing fetuses are particularly susceptible to the effects of BPA and other hormone-like substances. Exposure in a mother's womb may lead to lifelong adverse effects, including genital abnormalities in newborns, early sexual maturation of females, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), autism, obesity, diabetes, lower sperm counts and breast and prostate cancers.

The doctors say that the Kid-Safe Products Law will go far to begin regulation of endocrine-disrupting chemicals like BPA. The law requires Maine’s Department of Environmental Protection to identify chemicals of concern and then narrow that list to the highest priority chemicals – the worst of the worst – which the state can focus on removing from children’s products.

The DEP is convening a group of stakeholders to inform their process. These discussions are expected to conclude at the end of April. At that point, DEP must finalize the rules that allow them to implement the new law and collect fees from manufacturers to pay for managing the information that will be compiled and shared.

In recognition of the extreme danger many of these chemicals pose, the time it will take to get them off the market and the lack of information currently available for both consumers and retailers, the Maine DEP must keep the process on the fast track and immediately publish its list of chemicals of high concern.

There's a reason why Maine's Kid-Safe Products Law was supported virtually unanimously in the House and Senate -- it is well-designed, practical, straight-forward and solves an immediate need. In fact, it is exactly the model Congress should consider for national implementation.