With the last-month released Consumer Reports’ study revealing that the chemical Bisphenol-A (BPA) is used in making a much wider range of products than was earlier thought, two New York senators, Charles Schumer and Kirsten Gillibrand, Sunday announced a new legislation for banning BPA from the products commonly used by pregnant women and children.

BPA is mostly used to make plastics clear and break-resistant, and is found in the linings of food containers and baby bottles. The study says that the chemical apes estrogen and, as such, affects reproduction and neural development.

Noting that a wide array of consumables and products – even those that are labeled BPA-free - have disquietingly high concentrations of BPA, the two senators said that they intend introducing the BPA-Free Kids Act.

The proposed act seeks to ban the manufacture and sale of food and beverage containers made using BPA. In addition, children’s foods and beverages that constitute BPA would require to be labeled “banned hazardous substances” as per the Federal Hazardous Substances Act.

Saying that the Consumers Reports’ study substantiates the widespread harm associated with BPA, Schumer said: “There have been enough warning signs about the dangers of this chemical that we cannot sit idly by and continue to allow residents across New York City to be exposed. We need to keep this dangerous chemical out of the food chain.”