Push for removal of baby bottles with Bisphenol-A in UK

December 1, 2009 by Shawn Douglas
Filed under: Baby Health, News

A push is being made by many groups in the UK for the removal of baby bottles and other plastics that contain the controversial chemical Bisphenol-A.

A group composed of scientists, charity workers, and National Childbirth Trust (NCT) representatives has made pleas to the government to force the removal of products that contain Bisphenol-A (BPA) from store shelves.

The chemical is used as part of the manufacturing process of baby bottles and other drinking containers.

As the amount of scientific evidence increases against the use of BPA, more citizens ask for change. A recent Breast Cancer U.K. survey found that 61 percent of the people polled thought that it was important that the government “act to end the use of BPA in baby bottles.”

Scientists from universities in Stirling, London, and Reading among other places have also made pleas to the government, asking it “to adopt a standpoint consistent with the approach taken by other governments who have ended the use of BPA in food contact products marketed at children.”

Professor Vyvyan Howard, of the Biomedical Sciences Research Institute at Ulster University, told The Press Association: “As a medically qualified pathologist and parent to an 8-month-old baby boy, I feel that it is essential for the Government to heed our call for precautionary measures to limit exposure of BPA to very young children. Babies in their first year have not fully developed the ability to clear BPA from their bodies as quickly as adults.”

Other countries like the United States are still in the decision-making process. While manufacturers of baby bottles in the U.S. have willingly chosen to remove BPA, the country’s Food and Drug Administration says it needs more time to evaluate scientific evidence before it can make an official move to ban its use. The agency originally had a deadline of November 30.

The latest scientific evidence against BPA includes a recent study of 230 Chinese factory workers by Kaiser Permanente. The group found that the workers, exposed to high levels of the chemical, were four times as likely to both suffer erectile dysfunction and have reduced levels of sexual desire.