News & Press
Expert review of PFAS health impacts directs Maine to offer free health monitoring to PFAS impacted communities
Statement from Adam Nordell, PFAS impacted farmer and Campaign Manager, Defend Our Health, in response to newly released review of medical literature on the toxic effects of PFAS “forever chemicals” and its implications for the State of Maine’s obligations to impacted Maine residents: “The health impacts described in this report are terrifying. This should give us all… Read more »
Plastic Bottles Threaten Children’s Health; Not Just a Waste Problem
Cancer-Causing Chemical Found in Every Plastic-Bottled Beverage Tested Beverage industry can’t recycle its way out of harmful plastic and environmental injustice Laboratory testing of popular beverages, including Pepsi and Coca-Cola brands, found unsafe levels of a highly toxic chemical used to make the plastic bottles for carbonated soft drinks, juices, energy drinks, and bottled water. The chemical leaches out of the… Read more »
Local Farmer Impacted by PFAS Pollution Joins Maine Environmental Health Nonprofit
Adam Nordell, impacted Maine resident and owner of Songbird Farm joins Defend Our Health as Campaign Manager Portland, Maine – This week, Defend Our Health is thrilled to welcome Adam Nordell to the team in the newly-created position of Campaign Manager – Maine Farmland Contamination. He will be responsible for helping to advance environmental health and secure justice for farmers… Read more »
Statement from Defend Our Health’s Deputy Director, Patrick MacRoy, on the US FDA’s May 19, 2022 decision to reject petitions to ban phthalates:
“The US FDA’s continued allowance of phthalates in food packaging flies in the face of good science and provides further demonstration that the agency is simply unwilling to fulfill its duty to protect our food from unsafe contaminants. It defies all reasonableness that chemicals banned over a decade ago from toys because of the harm… Read more »
Defend’s Executive Director Statement on Maine DEP’s Action on Phthalates Ban
Statement from Michael Belliveau, Executive Director, Defend Our Health, in response to Maine Department of Environmental Protection’s official letters to the corporations found in violation of Maine law banning phthalates in food packaging effective January 1, 2022 following Defend Our Health’s letter to Maine Attorney General Frey urging Frey to enforce the ban on chemicals in food packaging: “We… Read more »
Toxic Food Packaging Sold in Violation of Maine Law by Two Corporations
Maine Attorney General Asked to Take Legal Action Against Goya Foods & Constellation Brands Portland, Maine — Today, a nationally recognized public health organization is demanding that Maine enforce state law and take action against two major multinational food and beverage brands that the organization says it can prove are in violation. Defend Our Health has… Read more »
Defend Our Health Applauds Maine Legislature for Passage of Bill Giving Maine Households Access to Clean Water
Augusta, Maine, April 26 – The legislature voted yesterday to pass a bill that will help ensure that all Mainers, regardless of income, have access to safe drinking water by funding residential well testing and remediation. This is an incredibly important step in Maine as a higher proportion of Mainers get their water from wells than… Read more »
In National First, Maine’s Legislature Votes to Ban Spreading of PFAS Laden Sludge and Compost Derived from Sludge
Augusta, Maine, April 15 – The legislature voted overwhelmingly today to end the use of industrial and municipal sewage sludge as fertilizer. This sludge was the source of widespread contamination from PFAS ‘forever chemicals’ in the state that has forced family farms to discontinue sales and face financial ruin. It has also poisoned the drinking water… Read more »
Statement from Sarah Woodbury, Defend Director of Advocacy, in response to press conference hosted by Casella Waste Systems on LD 1911:
The choice before us on LD 1911 could not be clearer: Do we finally stop spreading contaminated waste on farmland, in gardens, and on landscaping, a practice that has ruined family farms, continues to threaten health, and will cost the state millions upon millions to clean up? Or do we allow the companies that have… Read more »
Farmers and Groups Urge Support for LD 1911
Maine State House, Augusta, ME – Impacted farmers and a coalition of groups held a press conference outside the State House in Augusta today to urge passage of LD 1911– An Act To Prohibit the Contamination of Clean Soils with So-called Forever Chemicals sponsored by Rep. Bill Pluecker of Warren. The bill will ban the… Read more »