Defend Our Health calls for stricter guidelines when testing for PFAS; criticizes state approach

Read the full article by Molly Shelly (Central Maine)

“As the list of contaminated wells in Fairfield continues to grow, a Portland-based nonprofit is calling for the state to adopt stricter guidelines when it comes to testing water and food products for ‘forever chemicals.’

In a statement released Tuesday, Patrick MacRoy, deputy director of Defend Our Health, called the advisory level set by the federal Environmental Protection Agency ‘outdated’ and urged the Maine Department of Environmental Protection and the Center for Disease Control to make a change.

‘Maine must stop being an outlier with the least health protective drinking water standards in Northern New England,’ MacRoy said.

Defend Our Health works to eliminate toxic chemicals in food products and water.

So far, the Maine Department of Environmental Protection has discovered 29 wells in Fairfield that have levels of per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances — PFOA and PFOS — that are higher than the EPA’s maximum threshold of 70-parts-per-trillion limit.

States like Vermont and Massachusetts have adopted the standard limit of 20 parts per trillion, which MacRoy and other health advocates would like to see implemented in Maine.

‘We urge DEP and CDC to immediately apply the Vermont standards when determining if Fairfield residents should be receiving bottled water and filtration,’ MacRoy said. ‘… Fairfield residents with water results less than 70 ppt are being assured their water is ‘safe’ by Maine officials, even when their levels would be illegal to serve in neighboring New Hampshire.’

Defend Our Health has been working with state representatives to introduce a bill in the 130th Legislature that will set a state standard for PFAS that match the standard used in Vermont and Massachusetts.

‘If state officials aren’t willing to set health protective standards for PFAS, then it is incumbent on our representatives to force action,’ MacRoy said…”