Some US states to ban BPA use in products for babies and toddlers

Due to the much-debated health concerns pertaining to the use of the estrogen-like chemical bisphenol A, or BPA as it is commonly called, some states would likely impose a ban on BPA use in food and drink containers for babies and toddlers.

While the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) had earlier stated that BPA – the chemical that hardens plastics in products like bottles and cups, and is used in linings of metal cans – is safe; the agency announced last month that a few new studies have underlined “some concerns” about BPA’s possibility of potentially damaging the brain of fetuses, infants and children.

In addition, a number of activist groups, including the Environmental Working Group and the Natural Resources Defense Council, have cited studies that associate BPA with heart disease, breast cancer, and diabetes.

Even though the FDA has stopped short of calling BPA unsafe, Rep. Ed Markey, D-Mass., the person behind a pending bill on BPA ban, noted that the some states have “added momentum to the efforts to restrict the uses of this dangerous chemical once and for all.”

While Canada became the first country to outlaw the use of BPA in baby bottles; Connecticut and Minnesota were the first US states to ban BPA in food and drink containers for children below 3 years; followed by a similar ban in Chicago and New York’s Suffolk County.