AUGUSTA — The Maine House on Thursday voted overwhelmingly in favor of a ban on bisphenol-A, known as BPA, a chemical used in some children’s products.

Representatives voted 145-3 to phase out BPA and include it as a priority banned chemical in the state’s Kid-Safe Products law. The vote follows weeks of controversy surrounding BPA. Gov. Paul LePage originally planned to oppose the anticipated ban and supported a repeal of the state’s Kid-Safe law enacted in 2008.

The LePage administration had previously dismissed concerns about BPA, which health groups say can cause serious health problems, particularly in children. 

LePage’s plan to fight the ban was documented in his original regulatory reform package. The governor’s position had riled environmental and health organizations, and LePage added to the controversy when he joked during a press conference that the worst-case effect of BPA was that women would “grow little beards.”

The administration also cited a study by the World Health Organization that said there was insufficient evidence to justify a ban on BPA.

A LePage spokesman also said that BPA was one of the most studied chemicals and that market forces, not regulation, should determine whether it should be sold to consumers.

That opinion was echoed Thursday by Rep. Heather Sirocki, R-Scarborough, one of three Republicans to vote against the ban. Sirocki, speaking from the House floor, also told lawmakers that she couldn’t support the ban because she wasn’t convinced that alternatives to BPA were safer.

Sirocki was joined in opposition by Rep. Larry Dunphy, R-Embden, and Rep. Beth O’Connor, R-Berwick. The three freshman lawmakers are among a block of tea party-backed Republicans elected to the Legislature last November.

Despite indicating earlier this year that it would veto a ban on BPA, the LePage administration has since appeared to soften its position. The administration testified neither for nor against the ban during a March 25 public hearing.

The administration’s apparent new stance comes as Republican lawmakers have expressed support for the BPA phaseout and the Kid-Safe law.

The Environmental and Natural Resources Committee unanimously supported the ban and Thursday’s vote in the House appeared to signal that the emergency phaseout is well on its way toward reaching the required two-thirds majority.

If the two-thirds majority holds, it would override a veto by the governor.

A Senate vote has yet to be scheduled but is expected next week.

If the bill is enacted, Maine will become the seventh state to ban BPA in children’s products.

smistler@sunjournal.com