Chicago to be first city to ban BPA bottles, cups

The Chicago Sun-Times reports:

Chicago will become the nation’s first major city to ban baby bottles and sippy cups containing the potentially harmful chemical bisphenol A, under a measure approved today by the City Council.

Tests of laboratory animals have linked BPA to breast cancer, prostate cancer, diabetes and neurological disorders.

The federal Food and Drug Administration has come under fire for concluding there is no harm from the low doses of BPA that come from eating foods from containers made with the chemical.

Last year, Aldermen Edward M. Burke (14th) and Manny Flores (1st) got nowhere with a more sweeping measure that would have banned nearly all products made with BPA used by children under age 7.

The version approved today narrows the scope of the ban to “any empty bottle or cup specifically designed to be filled with food or liquid to be used primarily by a child under the age of 3.”

No word yet on how this will affect Alderman Burke's lucrative legal business.