Baby bottle makers urged to ditch 'danger chemical' ahead of EU ban

Baby bottle manufacturers have been urged to act now to remove from their products a potentially dangerous chemical which will be outlawed from next June.

The European Commission ban, endorsed by EU food safety experts, will remove Bisphenol A (BPA) from plastic infant feeding bottles.

The decision follows months of talks with manufacturers, EU governments and experts.

Labour leader in the European Parliament Glenis Willmott urged the industry not to wait until the deadline for applying the new rule.

She said: "There is no reason to continue using this chemical - most manufacturers have already phased it out, and safe substitutes are available. France, Denmark, Canada, Australia and some US states already have bans in place.

"The commission has been clear that it will introduce a ban as quickly as possible, but baby bottle manufacturers should act now to remove this potentially harmful chemical from their products immediately."

MEPs called for restrictions on BPA last June. The substance is used in many clear hard plastics, but evidence has been growing that the chemical, an endocrine disrupter, can interfere with infant development and can be passed to babies when they drink from bottles made using the chemical.

Monique Goyens, director general of BEUC, the European Consumers' Organisation, said the ban was an important signal to consumers.

"We hope this endocrine disrupter will soon be forbidden in all consumer products, and we urge the EU to make progress on the persistent issue of 'chemical cocktails' in products."

ANEC, the European Consumer Voice in Standardisation, welcomed the EU decision to ban BPA from baby bottles.

Stephen Russell, secretary-general of ANEC, said: "We will monitor the implementation of the ban and urge the commission to resource joint market surveillance action among member states to strengthen enforcement in order to help ensure that no baby bottles containing BPA remain on the European market after 1 June 2011."

Governments will have to ban the making of polycarbonate infant feeding bottles containing BPA from 1 March next year, with a complete ban on their marketing or import into the EU from 1 June.Belinda Phipps, chief executive of National Childbirth Trust said: "We have been calling for a UK ban on selling baby bottles containing bisphenol-A plastics for several years, and are thrilled their import and sale will soon be outlawed across the EU."

But Professor Richard Sharpe, from the Human Reproductive Sciences Unit at the University of Edinburgh, said: "I would be happy for a baby of mine to be bottle fed from a polycarbonate bottle containing bisphenol A.

"I can only presume this has been done on precautionary grounds as I do not know of any convincing evidence that BPA exposure, in the amounts used in polycarbonate bottles, can cause any harm to babies, as not only are the amounts so minuscule but they are rapidly broken down in the gut and liver.

"Ninety-five per cent of our exposure comes from our diet and when ingested it is rapidly metabolised and the exposure is absolutely tiny. Babies have the necessary enzymes and are able to metabolise BPA just as effectively as adults."