Read the full article by Lori Valigra (Bangor Daily News).
“Sean Oshima worked for two summers on Songbird Farm in Unity, making some of his happiest memories. Five years later in 2022, the organic farm discovered PFAS contamination in its soil and water.
Oshima worried he had been exposed, but he hesitated to get his blood tested for the ‘forever chemicals’ linked to diseases including kidney and testicular cancer. At the urging of his mother and the farm’s owners, he finally did so in December.
‘Initially I thought, ‘Maybe I’ve been affected,’’ said Oshima, 31, a Portland-based musician. ‘But it’s kind of nice not to know.’
In the fall, a state program sent out nearly 700 letters to people whose wells tested high for PFAS, encouraging them to get tested and offering state help in paying for tests. But the effort has been slow to start, with the state collecting only 164 positive tests as of mid-February, likely a fraction of those who have been exposed to high PFAS levels.”…