Wal-Mart to Pull Bottles Made With Chemical BPA ... Washington Post April 18, 2008

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If they know this is dangerous, why wait until next year? .. . Duh?????

Wal-Mart to Pull Bottles Made With

Chemical BPA By Ylan

Q. Mui

Washington Post Staff Writer

Friday, April 18, 2008; D01 Wal-Mart

will stop selling baby bottles made with the controversial chemical bisphenol A

in its U.S. stores early next year, a spokesman said yesterday. The

world's largest retailer had announced Wednesday that it was immediately

halting sales of baby bottles, sippy cups, pacifiers, food containers and water

bottles made with BPA in its Canadian stores amid speculation that the

country's health department would soon declare the chemical unsafe. The moves

follow Monday's release of a draft report from the U.S. National Toxicology

Program that expressed concern that BPA, which is used to make plastic, could

cause behavioral changes in infants and children and trigger the early onset of

puberty in females. The report also said more study should be done. "Major

retailers can be a force in effecting positive change," said Mike Schade

of the Center for Health, Environment and Justice, an environmental advocacy

group, which has lobbied against the use of BPA. "Parents shouldn't have

to roll the dice with their children's health at the checkout aisle." Wal-Mart

has sold BPA-free baby bottles for several years alongside bottles with the

chemical. But yesterday was the first time the retailer indicated it would

convert its entire U.S. stock. "We

are working hard to expand our BPA-free offerings," Wal-Mart spokesman

Nick Agarwal wrote in an e-mail. Spurred

by customer demand, other retailers are also stocking products made without the

chemical. A spokeswoman for Target said the chain began testing glass baby

bottles in its stores in January and offering them online in February. Babies R

Us said its sales of glass bottles have increased fivefold since last spring.

It began selling the popular BornFree glass and BPA-free bottles in stores in

November. The

American Chemistry Council, an industry group, said yesterday that recent media

reports are "unnecessarily confusing and frightening the public." It

said the Food

and Drug Administration recognizes plastics made with BPA as safe and asked

the FDA to update its review to better inform consumers.