Chicago became the first U.S city today to implement a ban on the sale of baby bottles containing bisphenol A, or BPA.
The Chicago City Council’s action is the latest of a series of moves in the Great Lakes region to remove the controversial chemical from young children’s products.
The ordinance passed two days after Environmental Health News reported a study by researchers in Japan who found that infant male monkeys were more likely to behave like females when their mothers were exposed to BPA before giving birth.
BPA, which was originally used as a synthetic sex hormone, is now found in a variety of hard-plastic products. Those opposed to the use of BPA have said it has been linked to health complications, including heart disease, cancer and neurological impairments.
The U.S Food and Drug Administration, while continuing to do research on BPA, has maintained its stance that there is no current need to discontinue use of food containers containing BPA.
Chicago follows Suffolk County, New York, and the state of Minnesota, both of which have restricted BPA in young children’s products. Minnesota approved its ban just last Thursday; Suffolk County approved one on April 2.
Several other states have proposed similar legislation, including Michigan and New York.
Kim LaBo, program organizer at Clean Water Action, a national environmental group, said that the banning of BPA from children’s products is an important step to better protecting children’s health from chemicals, and it could also help protect the environment.
“In Minnesota, our department of health has found 30 commonly detected chemicals in our groundwater,” LaBo said. “While the levels of BPA found in groundwater are very small, we think that this number could increase over time given how prevalent it is in consumer products.”
George Corcoran, a toxicologist and chair of the Pharmaceutical Sciences Department at Wayne State University in Detroit, said the debate in the scientific community is not so much over whether the chemical is dangerous, but at what levels.
He said federal agencies consider a tolerable level of BPA for adults to be 3.5 milligrams daily, or the equivalent of the weight of an ant. Federal agencies also suggest that adults take in only up to 10 percent of that amount.
A recent study by the American Medical Association tested the urine of about 1,500 adults and found a higher rate of disease for people with a higher rate of BPA in their urine, Corcoran said.
The main opposition to regulating BPA comes from the American Chemistry Council, which represents companies that manufacture the chemical, LaBo said.
State Rep. Mark Meadows, who is co-sponsoring the BPA legislation in Michigan, said that he hopes producers of the chemical find Michigan’s legislation to be reasonable because there are safer chemicals that can be used in place of BPA. Meadows introduced the bill in April, and he said he hopes for a committee hearing in June.
In March, the six leading baby bottle manufacturers agreed to end using BPA in their products.
Many companies, such as Babies “R” Us, have also began to voluntarily phase out BPA from their products to stay competitive, LaBo said.
“But not all stores have created BPA-free products,” she said. “Some of the dollar stores could still contain it, and having a bill against BPA just gives parents assurance.”
In Minnesota, it will be the stores’ responsibility to make sure they are not carrying baby bottles or “sippy” cups that contain BPA, said state Sen. Sandy Rummel. The stores will have until 2011 to use up their current inventory, she said.
Illinois also introduced a bill that would have regulated BPA, but the bill was pulled before the legislation came to a final vote, as it appeared to be facing defeat.
In March, U.S. Sens. Diane Feinstein (D., CA) and Charles Schumer (D., NY) introduced a bill in the Senate that would ban the use of BPA in baby products nationwide. U.S. Rep. Edward Markey (D., MA) introduced a similar bill in the House.
Legislation regulating the amount of BPA comes after an investigative study on the chemical done by the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.
Capital News Service reporter Danielle Emerson contributed to this report.