New Hampshire Follows Maine’s Lead with Proposed Ban on Toxic Flame Retardants

Part of National Trend: 23 States Consider New Rules on Toxic Chemicals as Trump EPA Fails to Protect Public Health PORTLAND, Maine, February 21, 2018—With legislation modeled after Maine’s first-in-the-nation ban on toxic flame retardants in upholstered household furniture that passed in 2017, the New Hampshire Legislature is considering a similarly sweeping ban to protect the health of kids,…  Read more »

Maine Voices: Product safety nominee has spent career defending manufacturers of dangerous items

There should be minimum criteria for positions meant to protect the public’s health, including commitment to a federal agency’s mission. By Ross Endicott, Special to the Press Herald SCARBOROUGH — The story of our business starts in the attic, where our 3-year-old son loved to play on the dozens of couch cushions stored there. Why…  Read more »

Environmental Health Strategy Center Expands with Appointments to Board and Staff

PORTLAND, Maine, February 5, 2018—The Environmental Health Strategy Center, a Maine-based public health organization working in the state and nationally for safer food, water, and products, has appointed a new board member and expanded its organizing team. ​ Joining a nine-person board of directors, ​David Bennell is the Food, Land, and Water manager for the…  Read more »

Toxic Golf Balls? Sporting Good Illustrates Need for Prompt Action by EPA to Address Persistent Chemical Threats

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE January 21, 2018 CONTACT: Jamie Nolan on behalf of Safer Chemicals, Healthy Families jamie@nolanstrategic.com 410-463-9869 Advocates uncover likely use of toxic, environmentally harmful chemical in golf balls; call on EPA to follow Congressional directive to promptly address chemicals that build up in people and the environment WASHINGTON, D.C. – When an errant…  Read more »

EPA Eases Path for New Chemicals, Raising Fears of Health Hazards

The Environmental Protection Agency is shifting course under the Trump administration on how it assesses new chemicals for health and environmental hazards, streamlining a safety review process that industry leaders say is too slow and cumbersome. But some former EPA officials, as well as experts and advocates, say the agency is skipping vital steps that…  Read more »

E.P.A. Wanted Years to Study Lead Paint Rule. It Got 90 Days.

WASHINGTON — A federal appeals court on Wednesday ordered the Environmental Protection Agency to revise its nearly 17-year-old standard for dangerous levels of lead in paint and dust within one year, a rare legal move that amounts to a sharp rebuff of President Trump and Scott Pruitt, the E.P.A. administrator. The decision also called attention…  Read more »

Senator Collins Applauded for Support of Tax Incentives to Create Forest-Based Jobs and Fight Climate Change

A bipartisan effort to attract investment in climate-friendly, biobased manufacturing jobs, The Renewable Chemicals Act of 2017, was introduced late yesterday in the U.S. Senate, sponsored by Senator Debbie Stabenow (D-Mich.) and co-sponsored by Senator Susan Collins (R-Maine) and others. The legislation, if it passes, will create a production tax credit or an investment tax…  Read more »

Strategy Center Joins Two Lawsuits Challenging Trump EPA

PORTLAND, Maine, August 14, 2017–The Environmental Health Strategy Center today announced it has joined two lawsuits challenging the Trump Administration’s Environmental Protection Agency for rewriting rules that determine how the agency will regulate toxic chemicals found in consumer products, building materials, and workplaces as well as in drinking water and food.   Earthjustice, the nation’s…  Read more »

Legislature Overrides Governor’s Veto to Pass Law Helping Rural Maine Families Access Safe and Affordable Drinking Water

LD 1263 creates fund to help families treat arsenic-contaminated well water.   AUGUSTA, Maine, August 3, 2017—A safe drinking water law, passed yesterday by the Maine Legislature through a decisive bipartisan override of the Governor’s veto, will help Maine families who need to treat arsenic-contaminated well water.  It’s the second safe drinking water law the…  Read more »

Maine Legislature Overrides Governor’s Veto To Pass Unprecedented Law Phasing Out Flame Retardants

Passed via dramatic veto override, new law will protect firefighters and families from toxic chemicals in household furniture AUGUSTA, Maine, August 2, 2017—Decisively overriding the Governor’s veto, Maine legislators have passed the first law in the nation to phase out all toxic flame retardants in upholstered furniture, protecting the health of families and firefighters. “Once…  Read more »