BOSTON — Massachusetts public health officials told parents of young children and pregnant and breastfeeding women to avoid using baby bottles and other food and beverage containers made with the plastic-hardening chemical bisphenol A (BPA), The Boston Globe reported August 4.

Massachusetts is one of the first states to issue such a warning to consumers; however, Connecticut has banned the chemical from infant formula and baby food cans and jars, as well as in reusable food and beverage containers sold in the state.

BPA is used in polycarbonate water bottles and other food and beverage containers. Expert opinions vary about whether BPA in food containers can cause health problems. On the national level, the head of the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA), Dr. Margaret Hamburg, has said the agency is reexamining its position about the safety of BPA in food containers, and the US House has approved a measure that would require the government to determine if BPA presents a risk to infants, pregnant women or young children by year’s end, as WaterTech Online® reported.

Suzanne Condon, director of the Massachusetts Bureau of Environmental Health, is quoted in the article saying, “We are concerned about this enough that we want to warn the public.”

Condon said the most “consistent’’ scientific evidence that BPA may be harmful was focused on young children. She noted that the state still may ban BPA products, but state officials are awaiting the FDA’s decision on the chemical.

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