Support Toxin Free Toddlers and Babies Act

Suffolk County, New York is poised to be the first governmental body in the nation to forbid the sale of baby bottles and sippy cups made from the toxic chemical bisphenol A. Industry is pushing back hard, and your help is needed to ensure that the full County Legislature passes the “Toxin Free Toddlers and Babies Act” this Tuesday, March 3. You can take action by participating in Clean New York's online campaign - just click here.

The bill, Intro 1017, was introduced by Legislator Steve Stern (Huntington) in January. It was referred to the Health and Human Services Committee at the February meeting of the Suffolk County Legislature, which advanced it back to the full Legislature for a final vote.

JustGreen Partners, including Huntington Breast Cancer Coalition, Clean New York, Great Neck Breast Cancer Coalition, NYPIRG, and the Learning Disabilities Association of NYS have testified in support.

BPA has been known since the 1930s to mimic the hormone estrogen. In recent decades, scientists have documented health problems when their subjects - animals ranging from mice and rats to primates - were exposed to BPA at levels similar or lower than those already in more than 90 percent of Americans.

The health effects identified through this research include infertility, obesity, diabetes, breast cancer, damage to the brain (from fetal development through adulthood), ADHD and behavioral changes, and prostate cancer. Over 335 peer-reviewed, published studies on low-level BPA exposures were published through April 2008. Of them, 81 percent found health changes. In a recent expose on industry interference with regulation of BPA, it was revealed that 91 percent of independently funded studies found health impacts, while none of the 14 industry-funded studies did.