FDA Bans BPAs from Baby Bottles and Sippy Cups
July 18th, 2012 tmccoy
The FDA announced that baby bottles and sippy cups will no longer be allowed to contain bisphenol A (BPA). BPA is industrial chemical that mimics estrogen that is used in food packaging and plastic bottles. Manufacturers already stopped using BPA in baby bottles and sippy cups. In 2008, the FDA declared that BPA was safe, but they started talked about health risks with the chemical in 2010.
BPA can leak into food. A study of over 2000 people found that over 90% of them had BPA in their urine. Many people also have BPA in their breast milk, in their blood, and on umbilical cord blood. In 2010, the FDA came out and said that it had concerns “about the potential effects of BPA on the brain, behavior and prostate glands of fetuses, infants and children.” Even before the FDA’s BPA ban, Canada, Chicago and Suffolk County New York had already banned BPA in children’s products.
The agency’s decision was widely praised, but public health advocates say that chemical still presents a health risk.
New York Times
