Six Firms Stop Using BPA In Baby Bottles
Officials said that the six major baby bottle makers in the United States have agreed to stop using the toxic chemical Bisphenol-A, which is suspected of harming human development.
"All six major baby bottle companies — Avent, Disney First Years, Gerber, Dr. Brown, Playtex and Evenflow — have agreed to voluntarily ban BPA from bottles in a major public health victory," Connecticut Attorney General Richard Blumenthal said in a statement.
In October, Blumenthal and his counterparts in New Jersey and Delaware wrote to the companies asking them to stop using the controversial chemical, widespread in plastic, after studies linked BPA to a range of health problems in infants.
Over the past decade, more than 130 studies have linked even low levels of BPA to serious health problems, breast cancer, obesity and the early onset of puberty, among other disorders.
"There is no excuse for this avoidable and unconscionable threat to continue," Blumenthal said.
"I am calling for a complete ban against BPA in baby products to stop this needless and negligent public health threat."
The chemical might interfere with the brain development of fetuses and newborns, according to what Toxicologists at the National Institutes of Health found last year.
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration and the European Food Safety Authority have said BPA is safe in the amounts used in such products as baby bottles.
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