As Maine lawmakers consider arguments for changing a law aimed at protecting children from toxic chemicals in the environment, public health and environmental advocates hope to send the message that “green” manufacturing practices help drive innovation and promote a healthy business climate.

As a press conference at the University of Maine on Tuesday, advocates unveiled Safer By Design, a new national report showing that businesses prosper by meeting growing consumer interest in environmentally friendly products.

“The message of the report is clear,” said Nathaniel Meyer of the Environment Maine advocacy organization. “Companies here in Maine and across the country are already replacing toxic chemicals with safer alternatives, and it’s helping their businesses. We need to move forward by continuing to harness Maine’s ingenuity rather than moving backward by weakening current protections that safeguard our health and our environment and that spur innovation.”

The national report highlights the True Textiles company in Guilford, which includes in its product line a naturally stain-resistant fabric called Terratex, made of recycled polyester and corn. In 2006, the company estimated that by not using toxic stain repellents and other potentially hazardous materials in manufacturing Terratex, True Textiles saves about $300,000 a year in manufacturing processes, according to the report.

Last week, Maine lawmakers strongly endorsed a ban on the chemical Bisphenol A, a chemical found in many consumer products including baby bottles and sippy cups and linked with learning disabilities, reproductive disorders, cancer and obesity. Gov. Paul LePage has opposed the ban and the law that allows it, the Kid-Safe Product Act of 2008, arguing that improving the state’s business climate calls for doing away with over-regulation of the manufacturing and retail sectors.

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