这是好消息，但不知道以前用的塑料瓶子、杯子对孩子的影响是多大。现在这里这一代有过敏的孩子特别多，他们父母那代人并没有这种情况。 总是觉得是不是现在的孩子们全面接触塑料制品有关，这些都成了每天少不了的生活必需品。
Canada leads bisphenol A baby bottle ban
Canada leads bisphenol A baby bottle ban
Sarah SchmidtThe Ottawa Citizen
Saturday, April 19, 2008
The government announced Friday that Canada will be the first country to ban plastic baby bottles with bisphenol A after concluding the chemical is toxic.
Health Minister Tony Clement unveiled the "precautionary and prudent" move while trying to calm fears with a limited ban of the widely used chemical, also found in hard plastic sports bottles and tin cans of food and infant formula. Most Canadians "need not be concerned" about the health effects of bisphenol A, but Mr. Clement said "this is not the case for newborns and infants."
"We have concluded that early development is sensitive to the effects of bisphenol A," Mr. Clement, joined by Environment Minister John Baird, told an audience that included new mothers and their babies.
"Although our science tells us that exposure levels to newborns and infants are below the levels that cause effects, we believe that the current safety margin needs to be higher. We have concluded that it is better to be safe than sorry."
The main source of exposure for babies is through migration of bisphenol A from boiling water poured into polycarbonate baby bottles and from can linings into liquid infant formula.
Research on laboratory animals shows that bisphenol A is an estrogenic hormone disrupter that causes reproductive damage and may lead to prostate and breast cancer in adulthood.
Mr. Clement said canned infant formula remains a concern, but government will work with industry to establish codes of practice to reduce the amount of bisphenol A in the linings of cans and set migration targets for the toxin.
Judy Wasylycia-Leis, health critic for the New Democrats, said this sends a confusing message to parents; the NDP welcomes a partial ban, but wants the ban to extend to all food and beverage containers with BPA, including all products designed to feed infants.
The proposed baby-bottle ban and recommendation to list bisphenol A as a toxic substance under the Canadian Environmental Protection Act is now subject to a 60-day public consultation period.