The top six makers of baby bottles have agreed to stop using bisphenol A (BPA) in baby bottles after attorneys general in Connecticut, Delaware, and New Jersey asked them to.  The industrial plastic has been linked to reproductive, immunological, and neurological damage in infants and young children and has been banned in other countries, including Canada.

The manufacturers - Avent, Disney First Years, Dr. Brown, Evenflow, Gerber, and Playtex - have voluntarily agreed to ban BPA from these products in what Richard Blumenthal, Connecticut’s attorney general, proclaims a “major public health victory.”  Repeated requests from various consumer protection and child advocacy groups to the US Food and Drug Administration have produced no results thus far even though multiple studies implicate the industrial plastic as a health risk to children and adults alike.  BPA mimics estrogen and has been linked to reproductive abnormalities, cancer, cardiovascular disease, diabetes, and numerous other medical conditions.

While a victory for babies, others will still be ingesting BPA as usual for now.  The plastic is used to make polycarbonate bottles that contain water and sport beverages and all canned goods are lined with it.

Legislators in Suffolk County, New York, unanimously voted last week to ban polycarbonate baby bottles and sippy cups marketed for children age 3 and under, making the county the first jurisdiction in the US to ban BPA products.  Canada banned BPA-based baby bottles in April 2008, with the expectation that bans on all BPA-based products will follow soon.