A range of industry representatives are asking state regulators to exempt what they sell from the state’s looming forever chemical ban, claiming their products deserve a free pass because they are essential for the health, safety and functioning of society.
The makers of products ranging from cookware to massage chairs to air fresheners dominated the Thursday hearing of the Board of Environmental Protection, arguing that Maine consumers would spend more and be less safe without the chemicals used to make their pans, chairs and bottle caps.
“The Federal Drug Administration confirmed that (the nonstick coating) in cookware is safe,” said Kevin Messner, a vice president with Groupe SEB, the world’s largest cookware manufacturer. “That has been an FDA determination on cookware since the 60s, since JFK.”
Three companies want exemptions for their nonstick cookware pots and pans, which are coated with polytetrafluoroethylene, or PTFE, one of a class of more than a thousand manmade chemicals known as forever chemicals, or PFAS. Environmental groups said cast iron or ceramic alternatives are safer.
Messner said nonstick pans are safer than cast iron or ceramic alternatives because they don’t require the use of added fats during cooking. He said they are cheaper and easier to clean, too, meaning they would take up less space at the landfill and would use less water and detergent.
Sarah Woodbury, a vice president at Defend our Health, a Portland-based environmental group, contradicted Messner’s portrayal of PFTE and urged the board, which is the policymaking arm of the Maine Department of Environmental Protection, to reject the exemption requests.
“Non-industry scientists do not agree that PFTE is safe,” Woodbury said. “We keep hearing that nonstick cookware is safe, that it is approved by the FDA, but I will point out that the FDA is far behind states and the European Union when it comes to making sure food contact materials are safe.”
Woodbury contradicted Messner’s claims that alternative cookware would cost more and not last as long. She said she found online ceramic pans for less than nonstick ones and noted her aunt had a cast-iron skillet that had been in the family for 40 years.
In a July 17 memo, Maine Department of Environmental Protection said it objected to the cookware request based “on the lack of evidence that this product meets the statutory definition of essential for health, safety and the functioning of society, and that reasonably available alternatives that function similarly are readily obtainable by consumers.”
Perfluoroalkyl and polyfluoroalkyl substances, or PFAS, are called forever chemicals because they can linger in the environment for decades. They are found in a wide range of consumer products. Exposure to even trace amounts have been linked to significant health problems.
Components of liquid cleaner containers were the only exemption requests that the state Department of Environmental Protection supports.
“This internal component of a container performs vital roles for the product to function in a safe manner across multiple product categories,” according to the July memo. That recommendation must still be approved by the board.
The board will accept public comment through Sept. 3 about the proposed exemptions and then has 120 days to act upon them.
The state has rejected efforts to exempt cookware from its looming forever chemical ban twice before — once when the ban was first adopted in 2023 and most recently this spring when, with support from the public health and medical community, lawmakers nixed a proposed cookware carveout.
In 2023, Maine became the first state to ban PFAS in nonessential products. The ban is being phased in over time, however, with cookware and other consumer products to be banned next year and high-end manufacturing products to be banned in 2032.
