BANGOR DAILY NEWS • February 3, 2023
Whether companies will get more time to make public if they have toxic “forever chemicals” in their products is up for debate this legislative session. As of Jan. 1, companies had to report to the state the per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances, known as PFAS, in their products. Companies have known about this legal requirement — the first of its kind in the country — for more than a year and a half, and many started testing product components months ago to meet the deadline. But at a forum on Thursday, some said the business community has found it unworkable to comply with the law due to a lack of laboratory capacity and the time it takes to test product components. Some lawmakers, however, believe that requiring companies to reveal whether there are PFAS in their products sold in Maine is an important step to work toward the state’s goal of banning PFAS in products by 2030. PFAS chemicals have been associated with serious illnesses.