BPA ban stalls in Senate

Hartford (WTNH) - A proposal to ban the controversial chemical Bisphenol-A (BPA) from baby bottles and other containers appears to have stalled in the state Senate.

It got easy passage from several legislative committees and the House of Representatives but is now encountering an intense lobbying effort.

Consumer groups say BPA leads to numerous health problems, but the industry says there is no proof of that danger. Meanwhile, several companies have already banned BPA in their products.

"This is a very dangerous chemical and we've got to prohibit it and I'm going to go with it. I think we'd have a black eye in Connecticut if we didn't pass these restrictions," said Sen. Ed Meyer (D-Branford).

"Minnesota has banned the product, we can take the next step, and, hopefully, a grass roots movement across states will spur Congress on to action so we can get this removed in all of our products nationwide," said Sen. John McKinney (R-Minority Leader).

But the industry says the proposed Connecticut ban on baby bottles, food containers and reusable liquid containers goes too far - that it would require warning labels on nearly everything you buy at the supermarket, because it's used on almost all containers. That would force major food distributors to segregate labeled containers to send to Connecticut and some believe that violates interstate commerce laws.

Governor Jodi Rell today fueled the arguments against the bill as currently written.

"I support the concept of the bill, I would like to have those questions answered before we move forward," she said.

The consumer groups who have pushed the bill, including the ones who brought a big inflatable baby bottle to the state Capitol earlier in the year, see all these arguments as phoney issues.

"In the ten years I've been up here I've never seen so many lobbyists circling the wagons to kill a bill that's clearly in the public interest and designed to protect children, pregnant women," said Phil Sherwood, CT Citizen's Action Group.

At least two senators have manufacturers in their districts that make tin cans coated with BPA, further complicating the effort to move the bill forward.

Democrats in the state Senate are expected to discuss this bill in closed caucus tomorrow to see where the potential vote stands. Senator Meyer, who is the senate sponsor, says he will make every effort to bring it to the floor.