Maine’s ban on consumer products with intentionally-added forever chemicals widens at the beginning of the New Year and will sweep in common household items such as cookware, cosmetics and cleaning products.
State regulators expect manufacturers and retailers to comply with the new rules which prohibit selling goods containing per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances, or PFAS.
A good portion of the marketplace has moved away from using the potentially harmful substances in products, said Kerri Farris, safer chemicals program manager at the Maine Department of Environmental Protection.
“The manufacturers are responsible for compliance with this sales prohibition, given that they are the only ones that really know what’s in their product,” Farris said in an interview.
PFAS refers to a family of incredibly durable chemicals that have been widely used in industrial and consumer products for decades. Some of the chemicals have been linked to health problems including immune problems, liver disease and cancer.
Maine’s product ban went into effect in 2023 for carpets and fabric treatment. The expansion next year includes common items such as upholstered furniture, textile articles, ski wax and nonstick pots and pans.
The Maine Board of Environmental Protection denied product exemptions from the prohibition earlier this year, including from the cookware industry.
Steve Burns, a spokesperson for the Cookware Sustainability Alliance trade group said in an interview it is still in conversation with Maine officials about the status of nonstick cookware.
Only Maine and Minnesota included pots and pans in their PFAS bans, Burns said. Other states including Vermont and New Mexico have made at least temporary exceptions, he added.
Fluoropolymers used to treat cookware are inert and will not bind with human cells, according to Burns.
“The medical industry for decades has been using fluoropolymers inside the human body with not a single instance of any toxicity,” Burns said.
This story appears through a media partnership with Maine Public.