As of March 1, 2011, the European Union banned the manufacturing of baby bottles containing BPA. As for baby bottles containing BPA that are already on the market, the European Union ordered those pulled from stores no later than June 1, 2011. Some politicians and researchers are calling these measures backed by emotion and not science, although considering that BPA has been known to be an estrogenic since the 1930′s, that is a tough argument to accept. In any case, it is likely that the ban of BPA in baby bottles will lead to bans of BPA in other food contact products. Belgium has already proposed legislation banning BPA in various food contact plastics and Germany proposed a ban on BPA in pacifiers. Although no bans have been proposed in Japan, the Japanese canning industry has voluntarily replaced the BPA liners with BPA-free liners and all polycarbonate table ware (which contains BPA) was repalced with #5 or other BPA-free plastics at Japanese schools.

Although there is no nationwide ban proposed in the US, several states, including Connecticut, Minnesota and Maine, have proposed or instituted various bans of BPA in baby products.

Maybe we too will see a nationwide ban in baby and food storage and consumption products within the next few years. Stay tuned.