More U.S. retailers give BPA the boot
By Liz Szabo, USA TODAY
https://www.usatoday.com/news/health...hase-out_N.htm

Canada's proposed ban on a hormone-like chemical in baby bottles has spurred U.S. retailers and legislators to try to phase out use of the ingredient, called bisphenol A, or BPA.

Canada's announcement Friday came just days after the National Toxicology Program, part of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, found "some concern" that low levels of BPA cause changes in behavior and the brain, prostate gland, mammary gland and the age at which girls enter puberty.

Toys 'R' Us announced Monday that it will phase out bottles and other "baby feeding products" containing BPA by the end of the year. Wal-Mart last week said that it will stop selling baby bottles made with BPA by early next year.

Nalgene, which makes plastic water bottles popular with hikers, and Playtex, which makes a variety of baby products, also say they'll stop using BPA, an ingredient in polycarbonate plastic.

Brian Fallon, a spokesman for Sen. Charles Schumer, D-N.Y., says the senator plans to introduce legislation today to ban BPA from all baby bottles.

The American Chemistry Council, an industry group, notes that BPA has been used safely for decades and is an important ingredient that makes plastics flexible and shatter-resistant.

Rick Locker, an attorney for the Juvenile Products Manufacturers Association, says parents can be confident that products made with BPA are safe. Locker notes that the Food and Drug Administration has not found that BPA poses a risk to children. Neither have regulatory agencies in Japan or Europe, he says.

"Consumers shouldn't have choices made for them by rash actions by Canada or retailers," Locker says.

But a growing number of consumers are concerned about the chemical, which has been found in the urine of 95% of Americans tested.

A group of 38 scientists last year issued a joint statement warning that even very low doses of BPA — which acts like the hormone estrogen — cause profound effects on laboratory animals, particularly during pregnancy and infancy. They found that BPA can permanently rewire genetic programming before birth. The research was published in Reproductive Toxicology.

Stanford University pediatrician Alan Greene, author of Raising Baby Green, encourages parents to reduce their children's exposure to BPA. "I wouldn't use it for my children," says Greene, a father of four.

Greene says parents can avoid BPA by choosing glass bottles or shunning plastics labeled with a number 7 recycling code. Some bottles, such as BornFree, Medela and Adiri, are now marketed as BPA-free. Greene notes that BPA is found in a number of products, including the linings of formula cans. Because BPA may be less likely to leach into dry products, powdered formula could be a safer choice than liquid, he says.