Regarding the recent editorial urging the legislature to use its budget surplus for a PFAS fund, (“PFAS fund needed for Maine’s affected farmers,” March 15), we agree that remediation and containment efforts should be a priority for highly contaminated sites.
But we urge policymakers to first consider all current scientific research and weigh the costs and benefits to public health and the economy before taking drastic regulatory action.
The editorial board notes there is “still a lot we need to know about PFAS contamination,” and we agree. Specifically, there is a lot we need to still learn about the risks that exposure to PFAS compounds present to humans.
An analysis of the most widely cited existing research on PFAS, published in the peer-reviewed journal Environmental Research, highlights a number of important limitations that should be resolved and provides a roadmap by outlining very specific studies that need to be conducted before effective regulatory policies can be developed.
Margaret M. Murray, Ph.D.
Research Director
Center for Truth in Science
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