The chemical bisphenol A, or BPA. Experiments on rats have linked the chemical to changes in behaviour and the brain, early puberty and pre-cancerous changes in the prostate and breast. Canada has said it may ban its use in baby bottles.

More than 6 million pounds of bisphenol are produced in U.S. each year by manufacturers, including Dow Chemical and Bayer AG.

On April 15, the U.S. National Institutes of Health's National Toxicology Program (NTP) released a report claiming ingestion of bisphenol-A poses a possible risk to human health. The report says high levels of exposure to the chemical can cause reproductive or developmental abnormalities, such as low birth weight, and may lead to a wide variety of cancers including breast and prostate cancer.

Three days later, the Canadian government announced a proposed ban on bisphenol-A in baby bottles, citing its own study on the chemical. Both the U.S. and Canadian studies found that foetuses and infants are at a higher risk for the adverse health effects associated with exposure to bisphenol-A.


In response, Wal-Mart Canada has already begun to pull from its shelves baby bottles containing the chemical. The retailer also announced it would begin phasing out bottles containing bisphenol-A in its U.S. stores and stop selling them by early 2009, according to The Washington Post.
Nalgene, makers of the ubiquitous translucent water bottles, announced it would stop using bisphenol-A in its products. Baby bottle manufacturer Playtex also said it would phase out the chemical.

Plastics Chemical Poses Health Risk, Businesses Respond