EU bans bisphenol-A chemical (BPA) from 2011

What great news to end the year with.

The EU has announced a ban on the use of BPA (bisphenol-A) chemical from plastic babies' bottles from June 2011. The commission cited fears that the compound could affect development and immune response in young children.

This news is very welcome - the concern over the use of BPA has been gaining momentum - with six US manufacturers removing it in 2009 from bottles they sold in the US.

John Dalli, Commissioner has stated that "There were areas of uncertainty, deriving from new studies, which showed that BPA might have an effect on development, immune response and tumour promotion." The Commission said EU states will outlaw the manufacture of polycarbonate feeding bottles containing the compound from March 2011, and ban their import and sale from June 2011.

The National Childbirth Trust chief executive Belinda Phipps told the BBC: "When you put liquids into a bottle - particularly hot liquids or liquids containing fatty liquids - it leaches out of the plastic. And particularly as the bottle gets older and it gets more scratched, more and more leaches out and into the liquid." "It's a chemical that mimics estrogens, but not in a good way," she said. "It interferes with estrogens getting into the receptors, and it can have some very unpleasant effects - and animal studies have shown significant effects."

We're proud that all the bottles we stock are BPA free.