Six major manufacturers of baby bottles in the United States say they will stop selling bottles made with bisphenol A -- in other words, they're dropping polycarbonate. The companies announced the news in a letter to Connecticut Attorney General Richard Blumenthal, who, along with the attorney general of New Jersey, had asked the companies to voluntarily stop using the material. The request probably didn't really play any role in making the switch. Retailers have already urged bottle makers to find an alternative, and growing public awareness of the BPA safety issue made this inevitable. This Washington Post story quotes an official with one of the suppliers:
"We made a business decision to move out of BPA," said Shannon Jenest of Philips Avent, which is number one in U.S. dollar sales of baby bottles. Philips Avent stopped selling baby products with BPA on Dec. 31 in North America but continues to market them overseas, she said. "We felt like we had hit a tipping point with our consumers and with our retailers," Jenest said. "Babies R Us was banning it, Target was going to, CVS was going to, and so the distribution channels were lessening and lessening."I'm surprised that Philips Avent is continuing to sell the bottles overseas. Could that be the difference in the legal systems?
