3 States Move to Phase Out Bisphenol-A

Photo: Evangelos Patriarcheas / Istock

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The Attorneys General of three states -- Connecticut, Delaware and New Jersey -- have asked baby bottle manufacturers to voluntarily stop using plastics made with Bisphenol-A, a chemical that has been linked to a range of health problems due to its similarity to the female hormone estrogen.

Bisphenol-A isn't found only in baby bottles. It's commonly used to make many hard plastics, such as those used for water bottles, food storage containers and others, and is also found in the lining of cans. Because it can leach out of plastic baby bottles, however, they are seen as a worrying source of exposure for vulnerable babies and toddlers.

As with most chemicals, they are more potent to developing children and fetuses, because organs are still forming and lower doses have, when compared to adults, disproportionately higher effects, because children have lower body weights.

The Food and Drug Administration is working on a new assessment of Bisphenol-A's safety. It has resisted conclusions based on independent scientists, and even the National Toxicology Program, and has to date based its conclusion that the chemical is safe on a handful of industry studies, including some that have not been peer-reviewed.

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