Scientific Dictatorship

BPA ban hearing next week

By Beth Quimby bquimby@mainetoday.com
Staff Writer

The Maine Board of Environmental Protection will hold a public hearing on whether to ban bisphenol A in baby bottles and other reusable food and beverage containers at 1 p.m. Aug. 19 at the Holiday Inn and Ground Round, 110 Community Drive, Augusta.

The Maine Department of Environmental Protection has proposed banning the chemical, also known as BPA, from polycarbonate plastics products such as sippy cups. The chemical has been shown to disrupt hormone flows in animal studies and has been banned in other states.

Environmental groups in Maine have been urging their members to attend the hearing. Maine’s Toxics Center has scheduled an event about the dangers of exposure to BPA at 10:30 a.m. Wednesday at Lobsterman’s Park at the corner of Middle and Temple streets, Portland.

More information about the possible ban is available on the DEP website...

[Full Article]

Labels: Bisphenol A, BPA, Maine

No Explosives Found Aboard Jet Diverted To Maine

BANGOR, Maine -- The father of a former Air Force intelligence specialist was left to wonder why his son went from leading a "squeaky clean" life to being accused of claiming he had explosives aboard a trans-Atlantic flight, forcing the jetliner and its passengers to spend the night in Bangor.

Delta Air Lines Flight 273 from Paris to Atlanta was diverted to Maine because the passenger said he had a fake passport and explosives aboard the plane, U.S. officials said. The passport was real, law enforcement officials said, but there were no explosives on the Airbus A330.

The officials spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity because the investigation was ongoing.

Richard Stansberry was perplexed after government officials told him that his son, Derek Stansberry, 26, of Riverview, Fla., had been detained Tuesday at Bangor International Airport.

"My son's profession in the military required he live a squeaky clean life," Richard Stansberry said.

In Washington, Air Force spokeswoman Lt. Col. Linda Pepin said the man detained on Flight 273 was a senior airman and worked as an intelligence specialist. She said he was on active duty from June 2005 to 2009 and was last stationed at Hurlburt Field, Fla.

Charde Houston, an all-star forward for the WNBA's Minnesota Lynx, was on the flight. She said she saw no clues on the handcuffed man's face as he was led off the plane on Tuesday.

"He looked extremely calm, like a blank face. No emotion," Houston said...

Labels: Airbus, Delta, Derek Stansberry, explosives, intelligence, Maine, U.S. Air Force

Maine Commission Moves To Ban Gender Specific Bath Rooms, Sports Teams In Schools

The Maine Human Rights Commissions taking heat over a proposal to ban schools

from enforcing gender divisions in sports teams, school organizations, bathrooms and locker rooms, saying forcing a student

into a particular room or group because of their biological gender amounts to discrimination.

The little girls' room won't be just for little girls anymore, if the Maine Human Rights Commission has its way.

The commission is taking heat over a controversial proposal to ban schools from enforcing gender divisions in sports teams, school organizations, bathrooms and locker rooms. It says forcing a student into a particular room or group because of his or her biological gender amounts to discrimination.

The issue came to light last year when the commission ruled that, under the Maine Human Rights Act, a school had discriminated against a 12-year-old transgender boy by denying him access to the girls' bathroom.

Now the commission aims to issue guidelines on how schools should deal with similar situations in the future. It would make Maine the first state to implement such guidelines for schools as young as preschool and nursery -- and even some private schools...

Labels: Maine, school, transgender

Maine Panel Weighs Cell Phone Cancer Warning

AUGUSTA, Maine — Ignoring the health risks of heavy cell phone use invites a cancer epidemic, supporters of a bill requiring manufacturers to put labels on mobile phones and packaging said Tuesday.

"We can do nothing and wait for the body count. That's what happened with smoking" before warnings on cigarette packs were mandated, David Carpenter, director of the Institute for Health and Environment at the University of Albany, told Maine lawmakers.

The Health and Human Services Committee held a hearing on a bill that would make Maine the first state to carry warnings that they can cause brain cancer, especially among children. Opponents dismissed research pointing to the risks and said the bill is more about politics than science.

The sponsor, Rep. Andrea Boland, said the United States lags behind other countries that have either mandated similar warnings or endorsed policies warning the public about cell phone use.

Carpenter, a Harvard Medical School graduate and researcher with expertise in electromagnetic fields, said the strongest evidence of cell phone dangers comes from Europe, where the devices have been in use longer than in the United States. He told lawmakers that the U.S. "may face an epidemic of brain cancer" if nothing is done to warn consumers of risks.

Boland, D-Sanford, said the risks diminish markedly if the phone is held away from the head...

Labels: cancer, cell phones, Maine