AUGUSTA – A legislative panel unanimously approved a bill on Tuesday night that would narrow the focus of a law aimed at identifying and banning dangerous chemicals that Maine children come in contact with.

The amended measure that passed was the result of a bipartisan compromise and blended elements of a pair of bills, one sponsored by state Rep. Jim Hamper, R-Oxford, and another sponsored by state Sen. Seth Goodall, D-Richmond.

Though business and environmental interests were at odds during a public hearing, the two groups were able to come together and reach agreement, representatives from the Maine State Chamber of Commerce and the Environmental Health Strategy Center said on Wednesday.

The bill, L.D. 1129, would revise a 2008 law known as the Kids Safe Product Act. The law served as the underlying framework that resulted in the recently passed ban on the chemical bisphenol-A in products aimed at children, such as baby bottles and sippy cups.

The proposal would vastly narrow the number of chemicals that would be listed as “chemicals of high concern” as identified by the Maine Center for Disease Control and the Maine Department of Environmental Protection and establish a “de minimus” threshold for banned chemicals that would be allowable.

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