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Articles by Elisa Odabashian

Elisa Odabashian is the west coast director of Consumers Union, the nonprofit publisher of Consumer Reports. She is a much-quoted national expert on food and product safety issues. Consumers Union is co-sponsoring the bill in California to ban BPA in children's food contact products.

Featured Article

If I find out there’s BPA in this bottle, I’m going to throw a tantrum like you’ve never seen before.The California State Assembly today will vote soon on a bill to protect our most vulnerable residents — babies and toddlers — from Bisphenol-A (BPA), a harmful chemical in their food and drink containers.

Assembly Bill 1319, the Toxin-Free Infants and Toddlers Act, would ban the use of BPA in baby bottles, sippy cups, infant formula, and baby food. The bill, authored by Assembly Member Betsy Butler (D), which was passed by both the Assembly Environmental Safety and Toxic Materials Committee and the Health Committee, is headed for a vote by the full assembly as soon as this week.

BPA is used in the manufacture of the lining of canned foods as well as cash register receipts, but this bill is limited to banning BPA in food contact products for young children. Despite this, the $6 billion chemical and formula industries reportedly spent $5 million to defeat last year’s BPA bill, which failed narrowly when two ill legislators, both of whom had voted for the bill previously, were absent for the crucial final vote. And the chem... Read more