An Arkansas woman has filed a lawsuit in federal court accusing Playtex Products, a Connecticut company, of making plastic baby bottles with a dangerous chemical linked to serious health problems. This lawsuit, which is the latest challenge involving the industrial chemical bisphenol A, seeks nationwide class-action status. If a class is certified, thousands of people who bought plastic bottles containing the chemical from Playtex or other companies will be included. In April Canada said that the chemical, found in hard plastic water bottles, DVDs, CDs and hundreds of other common items, was potentially harmful and that its use in baby bottles might be banned. Some parents are turning to glass bottles because of the safety concerns over bisphenol A.

The U.S. government’s National Toxicology Program says there was “some concern” about BPA from experiments on rats that linked the chemical to changes in behavior and the brain, early puberty, and possibly precancerous changes in the prostate and breast. While such animal studies only provide “limited evidence” of risk, the government admits a possible effect on humans couldn’t be dismissed. With more than 6 million pounds produced in the United States each year, BPA is found in dental sealants, baby bottles, the liners of food cans, CDs and DVDs, eyeglasses and hundreds of household goods. Wal-Mart, the world’s largest retailer, has said its baby bottles would be BPA-free early next year.

Playtex, which is part of Energizer Holdings, based in St. Louis, says BPA is safe. Citing “consumer confusion,” Playtex has offered a free sample of a bottle system that uses disposable liners that are BPA-free. The company has said it will convert the balance of its product line to BPA-free materials by the end of the year. The chemicals industry maintains that polycarbonate bottles contain little BPA and leach traces considered too low to harm humans. The industry cites multiple studies in the United States, Europe and Japan to back up its claims. But the lawsuit, filed in U.S. District Court in New Haven, Connecticut, contends that hundreds of studies and papers have repeatedly shown that BPA can be toxic even at extremely low doses. This case will be watched closely for future developments.

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