Maine workers suffer from free trade agreements

Published in Portland Press Herald, 12/31/2012

This year several new free trade agreements were passed with the nations of Columbia, Korea and Panama. These free trade agreements are just the beginning. President Obama is in negotiations with as many as a dozen countries to hammer out a deal on a Pacific Area Free Trade Agreement.

Maine people are all too familiar with the effects of free trade. Since NAFTA passed in the 1990s, Maine has lost thousands of jobs. This latest attempt at expanding free trade to countries such as Vietnam, Malaysia, Chile and Peru, is an even greater threat to Maine.

New free trade agreements contain language that allows corporations to challenge laws that have an adverse effect on their profit. For instance, Maine is a leader among states that have passed chemical regulations aimed at preventing exposure to toxic chemicals in consumer products. Due to free trade agreements, these laws can be challenged by foreign corporations that want to sell toxic toys containing BPA.

PAFTA goes a step further by explicitly limiting governments' abilities to regulate banks, hedge funds and insurance companies. It also has provisions to strengthen monopolies on prescription drugs and make it harder to regulate drug prices. This will mean higher prices and less access to medicine.

I want to live in a community that is free of toxic chemicals and that provides quality health care for all its people. Maine has made great strides on both of these issues. I fear that the gains Maine has made and the potential for further progress could be undone by free trade and the greed of multinational corporations.

I encourage my fellow readers to join me in contacting Sens. Olympia Snowe and Susan Collins. Ask them to oppose PAFTA and to support our state's right to pass ground-breaking chemical policy and other reforms.