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Defend Our Health is applauding the approval of Maine’s plan to provide crucial services to people dealing with ‘forever chemical’ exposure near historic sludge spreading sites. PFAS chemicals bioaccumulate in the human body, where they can linger for decades. They have been linked to a host of illnesses including liver disease and kidney cancer.

The new administration plan governs the use of the $60 million fund appropriated as part of LD 2013, a bill that Defend Our Health helped draft, which was passed unanimously by the Maine legislature in 2022. The fund will offer critical medical support to people who have been exposed to the forever chemicals through contaminated drinking water wells and will offer financial and technical assistance to help impacted farmers responsibly adapt to the contamination of their soil, water, crops and livestock. The plan recommends that the legislature find a pathway to cover the medical costs of any PFAS related illnesses, perhaps by specifically expanding MaineCare access to people exposed to the chemicals in Maine. Defend Our Health campaign manager and co-owner of PFAS impacted Songbird Farm, Adam Nordell, responds: 

“This is a big win for Maine’s PFAS exposed communities. Maine is essentially offering a safe and viable way forward for impacted farmers, which is critical in our efforts to clean up the food system. I’m so pleased that the state is taking responsibility for the health effects of PFAS exposure and is offering health services, not just to the farmers, but to everyone who has been exposed to the chemicals near a sludge spreading site.

Services approved by the PFAS Fund administrative plan include blood testing, medical monitoring, and mental health supports for people living with exposure. For farmers, the plan also approves temporary financial assistance, infrastructure investments and a buy-out option.  Additionally, the fund will be used to advance research in support of PFAS impacted farm viability, and a medical study into a procedure which could help remove the chemicals from a person’s body more quickly, potentially mitigating some of the health risks of exposure. This is critically important progress in the fight against PFAS in Maine.”