Lawmakers push for fast action on 3M chemicals

Lawmakers push for fast action on 3M chemicals
The state Senate voted 60-3 to strengthen guidelines for 3M chemicals. The move follows an advisory about Minneapolis fish.

By Tom Meersman, Star Tribune
Last update: April 18, 2007 – 12:05 AM

A day after the state declared that fish in Minneapolis' Lake Calhoun were tainted with a 3M chemical, legislative efforts to protect the public from harm from the company's chemicals gained momentum at the Capitol.
The state Senate voted overwhelmingly to strengthen the public-health guidelines for two 3M chemicals in drinking water, and to order state health officials to study what's known about the chemicals' risk.

The 60-3 vote comes amid a bolder approach by the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency in trying to contain the spread of chemicals once used in Scotchgard and Teflon that have contaminated drinking water and fish in parts of the metro area.

"State government for a period of years has been in a state of denial about these chemicals," said Sen. Linda Berglin, DFL-Minneapolis and chairwoman of the health and human services budget committee. "We are now moving toward a state of action. The time of trying to ignore it is over."

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