PFAS fund begins blood‑testing outreach, moves forward on clinical studies and mental‑health supports

The PFAS Fund team said it has mailed letters to more than 600 residences identified as presumptively eligible for PFAS blood‑serum testing and outlined parallel work on clinical follow‑up, exposure research and a proposed mental‑health support network for affected farmers and residents.

“We mailed out letters to over 600 homes that are presumptively eligible for PFAS blood serum testing paid for by the PFAS fund,” Director Beth Valentine told the advisory committee. She said the department used DEP sampling databases to identify addresses where drinking water tested above 20 parts per trillion (sum of six PFAS) or soil tested above 170 parts per billion.

How the testing will work

Valentine said the department will send authorization packages to eligible individuals; those people take the authorization to their primary‑care clinician, who will order the tests. “No clinical results come back to the department,” Valentine said. She said the department selected Quest Diagnostics through a qualifications process; Quest will handle analysis and billing logistics and has established a dedicated clinician phone line.

Valentine said that laboratories must now report PFAS blood‑serum results to Maine CDC; “as of June 4, 2025, PFAS blood serum results must be reported by laboratories to Maine CDC,” she said, adding that CDC toxicologists will follow up on elevated results. The department noted some patients may face a small phlebotomy fee (about $25) if the drawing site lacks a phlebotomist contracted with Quest, and that Quest walk‑in locations without a fee will be shared.

Clinical studies and exposure research

The committee heard that Maine CDC is negotiating a contract with Maine Medical Center to run a cholestyramine case‑series study documenting clinical use of the bile‑acid sequestrant for PFAS body‑burden reduction. “Colestyramine is a medication ... that also helps [the] body to eliminate PFAS,” Valentine explained, and CDC is preparing a panel to refine a protocol and publish case series.

CDC is also finalizing plans for a farm‑soil exposure study and is close to a contract with Johns Hopkins University to conduct that study; CDC has piloted air‑sampling devices and modeling to estimate inhalation, ingestion and dermal exposure for farmworkers.

Mental health support and clinician training

The fund has commissioned a Farm First report that identified roughly 120 licensed clinicians in Maine; 82 expressed definite interest in providing PFAS‑related counseling after training and 32 expressed possible interest. Valentine said 90 percent of the clinicians indicated willingness to attend a two‑hour virtual training on PFAS basics and the cultural context of farming; 80 percent said they could provide brief 15‑minute check‑ins in addition to standard counseling.

Valentine outlined possible contracting models: a blanket contract enrolling trained clinicians under the fund, or a grant to an existing wellness fund (for example, Maine Farmland Trust’s PFAS wellness fund) to make initial payments that the PFAS Fund would reimburse.

Legislative funding for testing

Senator Stacy Brenner, who sponsors LD 582 — legislation to require private insurers to cover PFAS blood‑serum testing — said the bill’s fiscal note is roughly $200,000 annually and suggested the advisory committee could consider sending a letter to the Legislature’s Appropriations Committee in support of a funding mechanism. No formal committee action was taken at the meeting on LD 582.

Ending

Fund staff said response and outreach will evolve as mail‑back response rates are tracked; CDC and fund staff will continue to coordinate clinician outreach and the roll‑out of mental‑health supports and clinical studies.