Chemicals of Concern

In June 2011, Public Law 2011, c. 319 [An Act to Provide the DEP with Regulatory Flexibility Regarding the Listing of Priority Chemicals, LD 1129, 125th Legislature] was signed into law amending 38 MRSA Chapter 16-D, Toxic Chemicals in Children's Products. The amendments included modifying the list formerly known as Chemicals of High Concern: as of September 1, 2011, the list was to be known as "chemicals of concern"; and the list of over 1700 compounds was to be revised to remove any chemical that is either:

  • Used solely in an item that is not a consumer product, including, but not limited to, a food or beverage, drug or biologic, paper or forest product or pesticide; or
  • Used solely in a consumer product that is exempt from the requirements of this chapter pursuant to section 1697.

With concurrence from the Department of Health and Human Services, Maine Center for Disease Control and Prevention, the list of "chemicals of concern" is published below in conformance with the requirements of 38 MRSA §1693(2).

The chemicals of concern list now includes fewer than 1400 chemicals and is available here for review. For clarity, in addition to the full chemicals of concern document, DEP has also published lists of those pesticides and pharmaceuticals which have been removed ("delisted"). Each of these additional lists are included in tabs within the excel document and as PDF files posted below.

Maine DEP received a petition to remove certain silicone substances from the Chemicals of Concern list. In response to this petiton the Maine DEP and the Maine CDC concluded that Dodecamethylcyclohexasiloxane (D6) and Octamethyltrisiloxane (L3) no longer meet the criteria for listing and have subsequently been removed from Maine’s Chemicals of Concern list.

List of acronyms

Acknowledgement

Maine DEP and Maine CDC thank the following individual for her contributions to the development of the list of Chemicals of Concern:

Lebelle Hicks PhD, Maine Board of Pesticides Control toxicologist

For additional information contact: Kerri Malinowski or (207) 215-1894