The time to ban BPA is now!

If you've bought a plastic water bottle or baby bottle in the last nine months, you've likely seen the words "BPA-free" on some ahead-of-the-curve brands.

Bisphenol A (BPA) is a synthetic estrogen widely used in hard plastics and the epoxy resins that line many food cans, although some manufacturers have stopped using it, and some retailers have stopped selling products that contain it. But BPA persists in many of the products we use every day.

Now Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) and Rep. Edward Markey (D-Mass.) have introduced a bill that would ban this toxic additive from all food and beverage containers. Learn more about the Ban Poisonous Additives Act of 2009.

The bill needs the support of your legislators, so reach out to let them know this issue is important to you!

Ask your members of Congress to co-sponsor the Ban Poisonous Additives Act of 2009. The Washington Toxics Coalition has a terrific e-mail alert you can send to your members of Congress.

Like many other hormonally active chemicals, BPA has been shown to increase breast cancer risk and has been linked to heart disease, diabetes, and neurological problems, lowered sperm counts and early puberty.

According to the National Institutes of Health, a primary source of this synthetic estrogen is no further than your dinner plate: food and drink that has been contaminated by the cans or hard plastic containers in which it was packaged, stored or heated. Tell the people who represent you in Washington D.C. that it's time to get BPA out of packaging and off the dinner table.