Is BPA safe for your baby?

I thought I would do something a little different for today’s post. I came across an article that may be of interest to my readers, so I figured I would share it and open up a possible forum for discussion. You may or may not have heard of a compound called, BPA. (I know I hadn’t until today) It is a chemical used to harden plastics, and is found in many baby bottles.

Well there is a dispute over whether or not BPA safe for human ingestion… you can see why this would be such a controversial issue for mothers. I know that if I was feeding my infant with a bottle and there was a question of whether or not the bottle was safe, I would immediately assume that it wasn’t and stop using it. Better safe than sorry when you are dealing with your children. Here is a little snippet of the article:

CHICAGO — Chicago on Wednesday became the first U.S. city to adopt a ban on the sale of baby bottles and sippy cups containing the chemical BPA.

The Chicago City Council approved the ban on a 48-0 vote and a spokeswoman for Mayor Richard M. Daley said he intends to sign it. The ban is slated to take effect Jan. 31, 2010.

“This is an important step in a landmark consumer protection initiative. This legislation will protect Chicago’s children and send a clear message to other jurisdictions considering similar legislation,” said Alderman Manny Flores, co-sponsor of the measure.

BPA, or bisphenol A, is used to harden plastics in many consumer products including CDs, sports safety equipment and reusable bottles. It’s also present in some food container linings.

Experts disagree on whether it poses health risks to humans, but some manufacturers of baby bottles have voluntarily removed it because of safety questions.

You can read the more on it in these article here: http://thegiggleguide.com/grapevine/2009-05/chicago-votes-ban-bpa and http://blog.taragana.com/n/chicago-city-council-approves-ban-on-sale-of-…

I have done a bit of research myself since finding the article. I have learned that if you are asking the Food and Drug Administration or the American Plastics Council, BPA is completely safe, but many scientists are agreeing that it can have serious health risks.

I am wondering if any of my readers know anything about this and can offer some helpful insight. If you are hearing of this for the first time, what is your opinion? I would love to hear feedback! This could be a great opportunity to educate a soon to be mother who is unaware of the possible risk.