Kids Safe Products Act (KSPA)

MPA opposes attempts by industry groups to roll back Maine's landmark Toxics law, the KSPA. MPA supports strengthening and expanding the Bisphenol A (BPA) provision of the law to cover more products containing BPA and ensuring that the Maine DEP continues to examine chemicals of concern and enforce the requirements of law.

The Problem

Federal law fails to regulate the 82,000 chemicals found in common household items.  Maine's KSPA creates a mechanism for identifying and removing toxic chemicals from products but it faces attacks by industry groups, indifference from current DEP and has a limited scope.

Why Support It

1.Federal law regulating toxic chemicals is broken and allows the use of tens of thousands of dangerous chemicals in common household products.  Hundreds of these chemicals have been detected in Maine citizens and have been linked to a wide range of health problems, including birth defects.

2.The KSPA provides Maine with a framework for examining chemicals of concern and lays out a process by which harmful chemicals can be removed from products sold in Maine. Under KSPA the Maine DEP has already identified BPA as a chemical harmful to children and steps have been taken to remove BPA from certain products marketed to children.

3.If protected and strengthened KSPA has the potential to prevent a large number of serious health problems associated with exposure to chemicals that overwhelmingly effect society's most vulnerable, including children and people with low income.

4.KSPA serves a model for other states and as a catalyst for serious toxic chemical reform at the federal level.

Addressing Common Concerns

The KSPA has become a bipartisan issue, enjoying near unanimous support in its passage and the implementation votes that followed. The only major opponents of the law are out-of-state corporate interests.  

By preventing serious health problems, KSPA improves the quality of life and finances of thousands of Maine families.  Maine citizens, as well as businesses, deserve to know the contents of the products they and their children interact with.  

Safe and affordable alternatives to BPA, the chemical that the KSPA has prioritized, are readily available and are already used in many other countries.  The safety of children—not the profits of chemical companies—should be Maine’s first priority.

Sources and Links to more information

Alliance for a Clean and Healthy Maine: http://www.cleanandhealthyme.org/

Environmental Health Strategy Center http://www.preventharm.org/

Body of Evidence Report http://www.cleanandhealthyme.org/BodyBurdenReport/ExecutiveSummary/tabid...