In the News
Maine Voices: Research and development investment will produce jobs
Portland Press Herald, Op-Ed by Mike Belliveau and Catherine Renault, May 15, 2012
In the town of Boothbay, a startup manufacturer turns plastic fibers made from plants into food packaging and medical supplies. In South Portland, a new manufacturing plant recently opened to serve a worldwide market of horticulturalists seeking increased efficiency in their greenhouses. In Old Town, a struggling pulp mill has new life, thanks to cutting-edge technology that converts wood chips into sugars, which are nature’s chemical building blocks. The common thread? These innovators have all leveraged government research and development funding, and the investments are paying off.
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Keep harmful chemicals away from children
Bangor Daily News, Op-Ed By Dr. Janice L. Pelletier and Dr. Steve Feder, May 14, 2012
Growing up in Maine, I can remember the rotten egg smell in my nose and the burning pain in my lungs when the local mill released sulfur dioxide waste into the wind. When outside, it sometimes felt like acid rain was inside my respiratory tree. Because that particular chemical is now known to be an asthma trigger and a carcinogen, it makes me wonder what harm occurred when I was young and why I now wheeze when I run. Pediatricians know that children’s bodies are uniquely vulnerable to chemical harm. Why is that so?
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Bioplastics cluster gets a toehold
Maine Biz, May 7, 2012
In a state with a strong agricultural and forest products legacy, the prospect of creating bioplastics and fuel from potatoes and wood chips was attractive. That interest, coupled with a growing demand to reduce dependence on petroleum and projections of 20% to 40% annual increases in bioplastics market demand, was too intriguing an opportunity to miss.
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State House Notebook:Toxic Chemicals
By Susan M. Cover, State House Bureau, April 9, 2012
Environmentalists hope that a unanimous, bipartisan vote in support of a resolution to urge Congress to update the federal Toxic Substances Control Act of 1976 will spur Maine’s Sens. Olympia Snowe and Susan Collins to come on board.
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Snowe, Collins should support new chemical act
Journal Tribune - Editorial, March 31, 2012
We feel fairly safe in America today, knowing that federal regulators oversee our food, medication, modes of transportation and even the safety of our workplaces. Lots of regulations are in place to ensure our safety nearly every step of the way, and most of us assume that the products we’re sold in our own country are safe. But that’s apparently not the case. From the beauty products we use on our bodies to the carpets on which we walk, we’re surrounded by chemicals that are negatively impacting our health – and the feds aren’t vetting them all.
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Our View: Senators should back toxic regulation update: It’s time for a federal response to the chemical products problem addressed in Maine law.
Portland Press Herald, Editorial Board, March 30, 2012
A 1970s law based on 1960s science is all we have to protect us from toxic substances in our environment. Regulations that envisioned smokestacks and drainpipes as the prime sources of dangerous chemicals should be updated to look out for toys, baby shampoo and a wide variety of consumer products as the vehicles for dangerous chemicals to enter our bodies and harm us. Such a bill is now before Congress and Sens. Olympia Snowe and Susan Collins should sign on as co-sponsors.
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Maine Voices: Time to take more steps to shield consumers from toxic chemicals
Portland Press Herald, Op-Ed by Dr. Tamas Peredy, March 12, 2012
PORTLAND - As the only practicing medical toxicologist in the state, I am well aware of the real hazards that Maine children and adults face from toxic chemicals. Every day, I see patients who have been exposed to dangerous levels of chemicals in their homes, workplaces and shared public places. Unfortunately, the federal law that is supposed to regulate chemicals in everyday products is broken and needs to be updated. I am urging Maine Sens. Olympia Snowe and Susan Collins to support the meaningful improvements put forth in the Safe Chemicals Act of 2011 (S. 847).
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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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BPA ban should be extended to baby food containers
Journal Tribune - Editorial, February 24, 2012
The Alliance for a Clean and Healthy Maine launched a new attack on children’s products containing bisphenol-A last week. The group, along with Mainely Moms and Dads, announced plans to petition the Maine Board of Environmental Protection to ban BPA in containers of infant formula and baby or toddler food, according to a report in the Bangor Daily News. Maine has already banned BPA in reusable beverage containers sold in the state, which goes into effect starting Jan. 1, 2013.
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Tests find BPA in baby food in Maine; group launches effort to further curb chemical’s use
Bangor Daily News, February 14, 2012
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.
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Environmental Group Continues Fight Against BPA
WABI TV5, February 14, 2012
Augusta - Maine environmental-health activists say they’ll press state officials to consider a new rule eliminating the chemical bisphenol-A from containers of infant formula, baby and toddler foods.
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Maine Groups Press for BPA Ban After Chemical Found in Baby and Toddler Food
MPBN, February 14, 2012
Since January, baby bottles, sippy cups and reusable food containers in Maine have been free of the chemical hardening agent Bisphenol-A. Now, environmental health activists want the state to eliminate BPA from baby and toddler foods. The move comes after tests conducted by The Alliance for a Clean and Healthy Maine and Mainely Moms and Dads also found BPA in those products.
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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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Postcards Delivered to Maine’s Senators in Support of Safe Chemicals Act
WABI TV5, November 16, 2011
Bangor - An environmental health group is sending a message to Senators Snowe and Collins. That message came in the form of 5,000 postcards urging the senators to support the Safe Chemicals Act. The Alliance for a Clean and Healthy Maine gathered outside the Federal Building in Bangor on Wednesday before delivering the post cards to the senators’ offices.
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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.
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Link Between Chemicals, Overweight Kids and Diabetes Discussed at Conference in Waterville
WABI TV5, October 14, 2011
Waterville - The link between chemicals, overweight kids and diabetes was discussed in Waterville Friday. The Environmental Health Strategy Center and Colby College environmental studies program hosted the event. Organizers say there is new research that suggests household chemical exposure could be playing a big role in childhood obesity.
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Chemicals Play Role in Obesity?
Portland Press Herald, October 11, 2011
Junk food and inactive lifestyles may not be the only reasons so many Americans are overweight. Some researchers now believe that chemicals in the environment may be reprogramming babies’ metabolisms. Chemical exposure, they say, may help explain the dramatic rise in obesity, even among young children.
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R&D bonds are critical for economic growth in Maine
Bangor Daily News - Editorial, July 18, 2011
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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Group charges LePage ignoring BPA phase out deadlines
WCSH TV6, July 11, 2011
At a news conference this morning the Environmental Health Strategy Center charged the Department of Environmental Protection missed the July 5 deadline for manufacturers to submit plans on how they plan to rid their products of BPA. And the group claims the governor ordered a staff shake-up at the DEP that led to unqualified people working on the BPA rule.
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Environmental Group Asks AG To Step In On BPA Law
WAVI TV5, July 11, 2011
This afternoon Mike Belliveau of the Environmental Health Strategy Center delivered a letter to Maine Attorney General William Schneider. In the letter Bellivau accuses the LePage administration of disregarding two legal deadlines to enforce laws that are contained in the Kids Safe Product Act.
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Group Accuses LePage Administration of Dragging Feet on BPA Enforcement
Maine Public Radio, July 11, 2011
At news conferences in Portland and Bangor, the Environmental Health Strategy Center said it was asking for an investigation into whether the the LePage administration is violating two of Maine’s chemical safety laws.
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Group: LePage officials ignoring environmental laws on chemicals
Kennebec Journal, July 11, 2011
Mike Belliveau, executive director of the Environmental Health Strategy Center, said he hand-delivered a letter to the Attorney General’s Office asking it to compel Republican Gov. Paul LePage to comply with portions of the Kids Safe Product Act and the Toxics Use Reduction Act.
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Environmental group accuses LePage of stalling BPA ban
Bangor Daily News, July 11, 2011
The state’s leading environmental health organization has charged the pro-business administration of Gov. Paul LePage with undermining key public health protections, including the pending ban against certain consumer products. In a letter hand-delivered on Monday to the office of Attorney General William Schneider, Executive Director Michael Belliveau of the Maine-based Environmental Health Strategy Center formally petitioned Schneider to take enforcement action against LePage and the Department of Environmental Protection, charging a failure to comply with two recent reporting deadlines.
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Potatoes and green chemistry: More jobs, safer jobs
Bangor Daily News, July 10, 2011
Green chemicals research and development is already making a difference in the form of bioplastics, organic plastics based on plants rather than petroleum. In the last three years, the Sustainable Bioplastics Council of Maine, a trade organization promoting the bioplastics sector, has raised more than $2 million for research and development of sustainable plastics made from Maine potatoes.
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Improving federal chemical laws is our moral responsibility
Lewiston Sun Journal, July 10, 2011
Responsible stewardship of the environment and responsible government must be grounded in a concern for the health of the most vulnerable among us. Thousands of unregulated chemicals currently circulate in the stream of commerce and, therefore, in our bodies and in the environment.
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National chemical policy reform needed now to make children safe
Portland Press Herald, July 9, 2011
In its 35 years of operation, the Toxic Substances Control Act has failed to live up to public expectations to protect us. I urge Maine Sens. Olympia Snowe and Susan Collins to co-sponsor the Safe Chemicals Act of 2011 to help prevent harm to kids from everyday chemical exposures.
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Troubling questions indeed
Brunswick Times Record, June 23, 2011
All of this is context for troubling questions raised by the executive director of the Portland-based Environmental Health Strategy Center in a letter sent Wednesday to Aho. In his letter, Michael Belliveau seeks an explanation for recent staffing changes at DEP that either eliminated or reassigned staff members who had been involved in the state’s Safer Chemicals in Children’s Products program.
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Kid Safe product deal a model for compromise - by working together, lawmakers made consumer protections more effective.
Portland Press Herald - Editorial, May 14, 2011
By working together, lawmakers found a way to ease the business community’s concerns without weakening the protections.
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Maine’s Kid Safe Products Act Compromise Wins Bipartisan Support
Maine Public Radio, May 11, 2011
“This is a victory for common sense and children’s health. It also gives more predictability and clarity to Maine businesses,” says Mike Belliveau of the Environmental Health Strategy Center, who also worked on the compromise.
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New bill modifies Kids Act scope
Kennebec Journal, May 11, 2011
Mike Belliveau, executive director of the Environmental Health Strategy Center, said the amended bill is a “victory for common sense and children’s health …”
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BPA ban to become law without LePage’s signature
Bangor Daily News, April 22, 2011
Maine’s ban against products made with the chemical bisphenol-A, or BPA, will take effect on Jan. 1, 2012. Because Gov. Paul LePage has neither signed nor vetoed the measure in the ten days since it garnered near-unanimous support from Maine lawmakers, it will become law 90 days after the legislative session adjourns on June 15.
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Child-safe is business-friendly, advocates say
Bangor Daily News, April 20, 2011
Steve Taylor, program director for the Maine-based Environmental Health Strategy Center, noted that a number of innovative business projects are under way in Maine to develop nontoxic alternatives to familiar products, including a potato-based alternative to petroleum-based plastics. “Maine can grow healthy families and a healthy economy,” he said. They go hand-in-hand.”
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Report: More Oversight Needed for Toxic Products
Public News Service, April 19, 2011
Steve Taylor, Environmental Health Strategy Center program director, says companies such as True Textiles in Guilford should be applauded - but they are the exception rather than the rule. In his view, that’s because the national chemistry-safety system is broken.
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Maine Manufacturers Embracing “Green” Chemistry
Maine Public Radio, April 19, 2011
Maine can be a leader, as more businesses across the nation turn to so-called green chemistry to eliminate toxic chemicals from the products they produce. That’s one of the conclusions hinted at in a new study released this morning at the University of Maine at Orono.
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Maine Senate Unanimously Approves BPA Ban
Maine Public Radio, April 12, 2011
The vote today, and a similarly strong vote for the measure last week in the Maine House, would be enough to override a gubernatorial veto.
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BPA ban gets unanimous Senate approval
Bangor Daily News, April 12, 2011
“We applaud the bipartisan consensus of lawmakers to protect children’s health,” Mike Belliveau, executive director of the Environmental Health Strategy Center, said in a statement. “This victory for Maine families continues Maine’s tradition of embracing common sense safer chemical policies.”
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Maine’s BPA phaseout imminent following Senate vote
Lewiston Sun Journal, April 12, 2011
Months of heated rhetoric and controversial comments ended abruptly with the sound of a gavel Tuesday as the Maine Senate voted unanimously to begin the phaseout of bisphenol-A, or BPA, from children’s products. The vote follows a similarly decisive vote in the Maine House last week. Combined, the two decisions meet the two-thirds majority needed to override a veto by Gov. Paul LePage.
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BPA vote a defeat for outside money
Lewiston Sun Journal - Editorial, April 10, 2011
After weeks of storm and fury, the effort to overturn Maine’s ban on bisphenol-A is likely to end in a whimper. The Maine House voted overwhelmingly Thursday — and we mean overwhelmingly — to phase out BPA when used in children’s products. The final tally: 145-3. A similarly lopsided vote is expected in the Maine Senate next week. The veto-proof size of the margin marks a setback for Gov. Paul LePage, who included killing the BPA regulations in his original regulatory reform package.
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Critics: Law targeting chemicals too broad
Bangor Daily News, March 30, 2011
Numerous mothers and representatives of environmental and health groups, meanwhile, said Hamper’s bill represents little more than an attempt by industry to gut a bill that is nowhere near as restrictive as opponents suggest. “The opposition to this law is having a hard time pointing to specific consequences of the law because there have been none,” said Michael Belliveau, executive director the Environmental Health Strategy Center.
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Opinions clash on keeping Kids Safe
Maine Today Media (Portland Press Herald, Waterville Morning Sentinel), March 30, 2011
“If anything, it’s not working fast enough. We recommended 40 priority chemicals being designated, and we only got two,” said Mike Belliveau of the Environmental Health Strategy Center. “So the opposition to the law is having a hard time citing a specific unintended consequence to the law, because there have been none. They do have valid anxiety about what might happen in some distant, future date.”
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Business groups clash with parents, environmental groups over Kid-Safe law
Lewiston Sun Journal, March 30, 2011
Environmentalists, health groups and parents came out in droves Tuesday to oppose a bill that they believe would gut the state’s Kid-Safe Products Act.
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Chemical Industry Drafted Bill to Modify Maine’s Kids Safe Act
Maine Public Radio, March 29, 2011
“Not one single Maine business has been adversely affected by this law; yet it’s protecting the health of Maine children,” said Mike Belliveau of the Environmental Health Strategies Center. Belliveau says without the Kid Safe Products Act, it’s difficult for consumers, particularly parents, to find out what chemicals are in the products they use. Belliveau says the chemical industry has resisted efforts to adopt safeguards at the federal level. And even Rep. Hamper now admits that the industry wrote his bill to relax Maine law. “Industry people, obviously, well, I’ll say—wrote it—yes.”
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Kids Safe Product Act Takes Center Stage
WABI TV 5 Bangor, March 29, 2011
Mike Belliveau, the Executive Director of the Environmental Health Strategy Center, also showed up to offer testimony condemning Hamper’s proposed legislation. “This is really about the chemical industry from out of state coming on and joining Governor LePage in trying to rollback protections for Maine’s children,” he said.
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Kid Safe Product Act Debated
WGME TV 13 Portland, March 29, 2011
A law designed to protect children, passed by the Maine Legislature back in 2008, is under scrutiny at the Capitol. The Maine State Chamber of Commerce is sponsoring a bill that would scale back the Kid Safe Products Act which identifies potentially harmful chemicals in toys and other child products. The chamber says the law goes too far by naming more than 17 hundred chemicals as dangerous. But supporters of the law say the protections are necessary.
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Kid Safe Product Act Works
Bangor Daily News - Editorial, March 29, 2011
On Tuesday, the Environmental and Natural Resources Committee will hear testimony on a bill to unnecessarily weaken the act. LD 1129 would make it much more difficult to place chemicals on a priority list and would create a process for removing chemicals from the list. While creating a process for removing chemicals may be needed at some point, there is no indication this is a problem now. Since the Kid-Safe Products Act was adopted, only two priority chemicals have been named and only BPA has moved to the process of replacement by safer alternatives.
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Committee endorses BPA ban; LePage administration weakens stance
Bangor Daily News, March 25, 2011
A proposal to ban bisphenol-A, or BPA, in some consumer products won a unanimous endorsement from a legislative committee on Friday after weeks of sometimes contentious discussion about the dangers of the chemical. “It’s a major political defeat for Gov. LePage, and lawmakers did the right thing by standing with Maine moms and doctors in protecting children’s health,” said Mike Belliveau, executive director of the Environmental Health Strategy Center.
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BPA ban approved by legislative committee
WCSH 6 Portland , March 25, 2011
A legislative committee voted unanimously late Friday to phase out the use of Bisphenol A, also known as BPA in children’s products and other resusable containers. The Maine Board of Enviromental Protection voted late last year to black retailers in Maine from selling products that contain BPA, but such a ban required approval from lawmakers. Earlier Friday supporters rallied for the ban in front of a 20-foot tall inflatable baby bottle.
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Public hearings begin on BPA
WABI TV 5 Bangor, March 25, 2011
Gathered in front of a giant inflatable baby bottle, they presented reports from scientists on the dangers of BPA. “So the record on BPA is clear and overwhelming,” said Steve Taylor from the Alliance for a Clean and Healthy Maine. “That’s the scientific reality and we hope that the committee and the Governor will be able to see that physically and visually today.”
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LePage Drops Opposition to BPA Ban
Maine Public Radio, March 25, 2011
n an unexpected change of position, the LePage administration has opted not to oppose a bill that authorizes the phase out of the controversial chemical commonly known as BPA that is used in the production of plastic bottles and food containers. And the state chamber has taken a similar stance on the legislation which, if enacted by the Legislature, would make Maine the ninth state in the country to prohibit the chemical.
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Different Stance on BPA from Governor
WGME TV 13 Portland, March 25, 2011
A change from the governor on legislation involving a controversial chemical. At a hearing Friday in Augusta — the commissioner of Maine’s Department of Environmental Protection announced that the LePage administration has dropped its opposition to new regulations for the chemical bisphenol a, more commonly known as BPA.
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Panel OKs ban on products containing BPA
Maine Today Media (Portland Press Herald, Kennbec Journal, Waterville Morning Se, March 25, 2011
Late on Friday, the governor’s press office issued a statement that said LePage himself still opposes the ban. “Gov. LePage continues to believe, absent consensus science supporting product prohibitions, the BPA rule developed by the last administration should not go into effect,” said Adrienne Bennett, LePage’s press secretary in a written statement. State Sen. Seth Goodall, D-Richmond, said he was pleasantly surprised with the administration’s change in position. “More reasonable voices prevailed in the governor’s office,” said Matt Prindiville of the Natural Resources Council of Maine.
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Manufacturing fear: Is the Chamber trying to “scare up” business testimony?
Bangor Daily News - Op-Ed, March 19, 2011
By Mike Belliveau, Special to the BDN
Perception is everything, right? That must be why the State Chamber of Commerce is working so hard to literally “scare up” support for their attempt to weaken the Kid Safe Products Act in the Maine Legislature. With no facts to support its wild claims, the Chamber has joined Gov. Paul LePage and the out-of-state chemical industry in crying that the sky is falling on the Maine economy because of an existing law to protect kids from harmful chemicals in common products.
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Maine Kid Safe Products Act Under Attack
Maine Public Radio, March 16, 2011
“If there’s a chemical that could harm kids and there are products we could be getting that chemical out of that would reduce my child’s exposure or other children’s exposure, we should be doing that.” says Amanda Sears, of the Maine-based Environmental Health Strategy Center, which opposes attempts to weaken the Kid Safe Products Act.
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New Technology Allows Maine Organization to Create a New Material
Maine Public Radio, March 10, 2011
Back in 1967, a young Benjamin Braddock, played by Dustin Hoffman in the classic movie “The Graduate” was given some advice: “I just want to say one word to you - just one word. Are you listening?” “Yes sir.” “Plastics.”
44 years later - Mike Belliveau has an update: “Bio-based plastics.” Belliveau is the director of the Environmental Health Strategy Center, a Maine-based nonprofit that promotes clean energy and safer chemicals. He’s also one of the leading advocates of a push for locally produced, environmentally friendly plastic. Click here to hear the story, cick below to read it.
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Republicans show split with LePage on BPA
Lewiston Sun Journal, March 1, 2011
Several members of the House and Senate GOP leadership indicated Monday that there isn’t much support to repeal legislation that most recently facilitated a ban on bisphenol-A, or BPA.
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Maine and BPA: a brief history
Waterville Morning Sentinel, February 28, 2011
Mike Belliveau, executive director of the Environmental Health Strategy Center, a nonprofit group that works to promote safe chemicals, said it’s ridiculous for LePage to say he hasn’t seen science condemning BPA. “If the governor puts on a blindfold, he’s not going to see anything — so if he refuses to look at the science that Maine’s toxicologists have reviewed or the science the United States government has reviewed, he’s not going to see the hundreds of studies that show that BPA causes adverse effects at the same levels that babies are being exposed to today,” he said.
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LePage motives on BPA policy, Mills firing questioned
Lewiston Sun Journal, February 25, 2011
As Gov. Paul LePage continued to weather national fallout for recently saying women could develop “little beards” if exposed to bisphenol-A, or BPA, questions continue to mount about the motives behind the governor’s proposal to reverse a ban on the substance.
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Governor’s BPA statements ‘outrageous’
Lewiston Sun Journal, February 25, 2011
“I was thrilled that Maine was going to follow the others states with the removal of BPA products,” Poulin said. “Environmental issues are progressive, and people are finally realizing the impact of chemicals, disease and the environment. I was seriously outraged when I read that Paul LePage was planning to lift the restrictions of BPA products. Clearly, Paul LePage is not looking at any science. If he did, he would not have made that statement. The science is everywhere.”
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Governor’s comments on BPA galvanize enviromentalists
WCSH TV6, February 24, 2011
Enviromentalists say they are more than determined to ban a chemical used in baby bottles and other children’s products, despite Governor Paul LePage’s comments. The comments, which LePage made last week, have drawn criticism from health and enviromental activists throughout Maine and across the country.
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Gov’s BPA claims draw ire from health advocates
Portland Daily Sun, February 24, 2011
“It’s feasible they could vote to disapprove the rule, but they’ve already had extensive testimony on [BPA] going back through 2010,” said Mike Belliveau, executive director of the Environmental Health Strategy Center. “Now we’re waiting to see if the governor moves beyond his unsound scientific pronouncement to actual legislative attacks on the health of Maine children,” said Belliveau, adding “It seems like the only science he listens to is from the industry that makes BPA — it’s like tobacco science.”
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LePage dismisses BPA dangers; worst case is some women may have little beards
Bangor Daily News, February 23, 2011
LePage then added: “The only thing that I’ve heard is if you take a plastic bottle and put it in the microwave and you heat it up, it gives off a chemical similar to estrogen. So the worst case is some women may have little beards.”
That last comment prompted a strong reaction from Mike Belliveau, executive director of the Environmental Health Strategy Center, a Maine-based advocacy group.
“It displays shocking ignorance for the science and a callous disregard for children’s health,” Belliveau said.
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Maine Governor’s Bisphenol-A Remark Draws Rebukes
Maine Public Radio, February 23, 2011
And Mike Beliveau of the Environmental Health Strategy Center says he’s shocked at the profound ignorance of the governor around the science of bisphenol A. The last time the governor came under this much criticism he was telling Maine’s NAACP to quote - “kiss his butt.” “You know, Gov. LePage wouldn’t know sound science if it kissed him in the butt, frankly,” Beliveau says. “He seems to be ignorant of basic principles of science. He ignores the scientific recommendations of the state of Maine. He ignores the scientific recommendations of the U.S. government. He ignores the independent, peer-reviewed science that has been in the scientific journals.”
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Enviromentalist Angry Over LePage Comments
MWTW TV 8, February 23, 2011
The Governors comments about BPA is not sitting well with some environmental activists.
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LePage remarks anger enviromentalists
WGME TV13, February 23, 2011
Maine Governor Paul LePage is once again taking heat for some of his off hand remarks. The most recent example: comments he made about the chemical BPA, which environmental groups are attempting to permanently ban in Maine.
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Consortium explores bioplastics potential
Maine BIZ, February 22, 2011
“We are poised on the edge of a bioplastics revolution,” says Mike Belliveau, the executive director of the nonprofit public health agency, Environmental Health Strategy Center, which has offices in Portland and Bangor. He sees a day not too far off in the future when plant-based plastic has replaced petroleum-based plastic.
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Hundreds flock to public hearing on LePage environmental proposals
Bangor Daily News, February 15, 2011
Hundreds of people converged on the State House on Monday for a public hearing and rallies focused on Gov. Paul LePage’s controversial proposals to rewrite or reform Maine’s environmental regulations.
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Regulatory panel gets earful at Bangor hearing
Bangor Daily News, February 11, 2011
Michael Belliveau, executive director of the Environmental Health Strategy Center in Bangor, said states with the strongest environmental protections have been shown to have better economic growth than those that don’t. Belliveau cited several examples of Maine businesses that are benefiting from the manufacturing of environmentally safe products, some of them made from recycled corn, wood and potato waste.
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LePage’s secret puppeteers - How the governor outsourced his regulatory-reform efforts to corporate lobbyists
Portland Phoenix, February 10, 2011
“Not a single Maine business testified in opposition to the regulations on BPA,” says Amanda Sears, associate director of the Environmental Health Strategy Center in Portland. “The opposition to these proposals from these corporate lobbying firms is entirely about national precedent setting. These industries haven’t had the power here that they have in DC to stop these things from being enacted.”
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Repeal of Kid-Safe Products Act a dangerous step backward
Waterville Morning Sentinel, February 6, 2011
As a young woman, I am very concerned about the fact that toxic chemicals in everyday products have the potential to affect my health, and the health of my future children. In Maine, toxic chemicals cost the state more than $380 million in health care every year, according to a recent study by the University of Maine, and contribute to rising rates of conditions such as cancer, asthma, learning disabilities and infertility. Although we may all be affected, however, it is children, with their small bodies and developing organ systems, who are most vulnerable.
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LePage’s opposition to chemicals law draws criticism
Bangor Daily News, February 5, 2011
“It runs afoul of common sense and it exposes the governor’s hypocrisy,” said Mike Belliveau, executive director of the Environmental Health Strategy Center. “He is supposed to be for the little guy, and here he is representing the big companies from out of state.”
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Environmentalists Question Source of LePage Reforms
Maine Public Radio, February 4, 2011
Ever since Governor Paul LePage released a six-page list of proposed environmental rules and regulations he’d like to relax or repealed…environmental groups and others have wanted to know where the list originated. The governor says most of them came from his red tape audit meetings held with business owners and leaders around the state. But some environmentalists are skeptical since the document itself is linked to one of the most powerful lobbying firms in the state; one that represents a wealth of corporations and interest groups that have a financial stake in weaker environmental laws.
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Environmental Regulations and Business Interests May Place Maine at a Crossroads
Maine Public Radio, February 3, 2011
For the last seven years, a coalition of groups concerned about environmental issues has met with lawmakers to discuss potential issues that might affect the state’s economy. This year, they say, Governor Paul LePage’s plan to remove or modify state regulations that he sees as impediments to business development is placing Maine at a crossroads. The coalition is urging all lawmakers, particularly majority Republicans, to avoid legislation that might degrade air, land or water quality.
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Spotlight on the DEP
Bangor Daily News - Editorial, February 3, 2011
One agency — the Department of Environmental Protection — has gotten the most mentions at the red tape and regulatory reform hearings being held across the state. The DEP was also the target of many of the changes called for by the governor in the lengthy list of environmental policy changes he’s advocating for. Gov. Paul LePage is right that a change in attitude may be needed in some agencies. However, his scattershot approach to easing environmental regulations, put forward in a list of 63 priority proposals for the Regulatory Fairness and Reform Committee, is counterproductive.
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Big business comes first in LePage administration
Portland Press Herald, February 2, 2011
The new governor talks like a man of the people, but governs like a friend of the corporations. The Paul LePage era has been full of surprises already, and I don’t mean the kind that come from salty language on camera. We saw during the campaign that he has a short fuse and a blunt way of expressing himself, so that is not a shock. What is a surprise is that our rough-hewn, straight-talking governor is picking his close associates from the boardrooms of big companies and not from the tea party protests that gave energy to his campaign.
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Out-of-State Companies Behind LePage Push for Regulatory Reform
Maine Public Radio, January 31, 2011
Gov. Paul LePage this weekend defended his proposed list of more than 60 environmental rules and regulations he’d like to see rolled back. The governor said in his weekly radio address and to a gathering of the Oxford County Chamber of Commerce that most of the proposals come from his red tape workshops that have been held throughout the state. But most of the opposition to the Kid Safe Products Law that the governor would like to repeal has typically come from out-of-state chemical companies and trade associations.
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Groups protest LePage’s regulation roll-back plan
Lewiston Sun Journal, January 28, 2011
“After a few short weeks in office, Gov. LePage wants to reverse the course of history,” said Mike Belliveau, executive director of the Alliance for a Clean and Healthy Maine. “Not only does the governor want to throw out the baby with the bath water, he wants to poison the baby first.” Belliveau referred to the state’s current BPA ban in children’s products such as baby bottles and drink cups. Maine is one of nine states to enforce a BPA ban, which is also in place in Canada and Europe. The state’s law is stricter than federal law, the standard LePage proposes adopting through LD 1. Belliveau said that more than 200 peer review studies have linked BPA exposure in babies to increased risk of brain damage and certain cancers later in life.
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Environmental Coalition Urges Legislature to Reject LePage Roll Back Proposals
Maine Public Radio, January 27, 2011
Recently, the Maine Board of Environmental Protection determined that the hormone disrupting chemical bisphenol-A should be phased out of sippy cups and baby bottles. The move was opposed by chemical manufacturers, and Mike Belliveau of the Environmental Health Strategy Center says the governor appears to be putting the chemical industry’s interests ahead of those of Maine’s children. “When Gov. LePage joined with the chemical industry in attacking the Kid Safe Products Act that’s like poisoning the baby first and then throwing the baby out with the bath water. It’s really outrageous. It’s beyond the pale,” Belliveau said. “Maine parents won’t stand for it. Maine grandparents won’t stand for it. We’re confident that the Maine Legislature won’t stand for that either.”
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Concerns Grow Over LePage Environmental Proposals
WMTW TV8, January 27, 2011
Gov. Paul LePage has drafted a list of enviromental laws and regulations he would like to see eliminated or rolled back. Amont the changes is one that some say will compromise the health of Maine children.
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Maine Governor wants BPA law scrapped
New England Cable News, January 27, 2011
One Maine mother calls it a slap in the face from the state’s new Governor. Paul LePage has identified a list of laws he wants repealed. That includes one that bans a toxic chemical from many children’s products.
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Folks Upset At LePage Regulatory Reform
WABI TV5, January 27, 2011
“Calling for a repeal of the BPA rule. Calling for a gutting of the kids safe products act and calling for Maine to become a Mississippi where we have the lowest possible minimal federal requirements for protection of our health,” says Mike Belliveau, the Executive Director of the Environmental Health Strategy Center.
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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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Chemicals and Cancer
Bangor Daily News, 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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Study Cited to Call for Ban on Bisphenol A in Maine
Portland Daily Sun, May 19, 2010
Eating common canned foods is exposing consumers to levels of bisphenol A (BPA) equal to those shown to cause health problems in laboratory animals, according to a new study released Tuesday by The National Work Group for Safe Markets, a coalition of public health and environmental health groups, including Maine’s Environmental Health Strategy Center.
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Chemical Ban Puts Maine in National Spotlight
Portland Daily Sun, May 19, 2010
Maine’s chemical regulators know they’re in the national spotlight when it comes to enacting a new and groundbreaking law requiring replacement of certain designated chemicals in children’s products with safer alternatives.
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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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Activists Push for Ban on 40 Chemicals in Maine
Portland Daily Sun, May 14, 2010
The group that led a campaign two years ago for passage of landmark chemical reform legislation in Maine staged a mock game show in Monument Square Thursday, warning that the law’s implementation might fall short of eliminating dozens of harmful chemicals.
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In Response to the President’s Cancer Panel Report
New York Times, Letters, May 7, 2010
To the Editor: Nicholas D. Kristof’s column about the President’s Cancer Panel report points to the urgent need to end the reckless, unregulated flow of toxic chemicals into our air and oceans. A marine toxicologist, I have spent the last two decades studying the harmful effects of synthetic organic chemicals on marine mammals and people.
Toxics Lurking in Men’s Personal Care Products Too
Maine Public Broadcasting Network, 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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High levels of contaminant found in osprey eggs
Portland Press Herald, February 26, 2010
Osprey eggs in Casco Bay contain stain repellent and other industrial chemicals at levels that may be harming the birds, according to a Gorham-based researcher.
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