A coalition of mothers, fathers, pediatricians and environmental groups is calling on the Maine Board of Environmental Protection to require the phasing out the toxic chemical Bisphenol A from infant formula, baby and toddler food packaging. The group presented more than 800 petitions in support of the action. Members said there are already safer alternatives available on the market.

Studies show that BPA is a dangerous hormone disruptor linked to cancer, obesity, learning disabilities, male infertility and early puberty in girls. Concerns about its presence in hard, plastic water bottles has swept the marketplace with many sports bottles now carrying "BPA-Free" labels. In Maine, BPA was the first priority chemical named under the Kids Safe Products Act in 2010. Included in that designation was a proposal to ban BPA from baby bottles and sippy cups. Governor Paul LePage objected. But the Legislature overwhelmingly voted to keep the ban in place. And now parents like Dana Hernandez want state regulators to do more to protect young children.

"Mothers are tired of feeling helpless at the grocery store," said Hernandez. "We are outraged at the test results that prove how much baby food and toddler foods contain BPA because we know there are safer alternatives out there that companies can use."

Hernandez is founder of the group Mainely Moms and Dads. And she said she was shocked to learn a few months ago that the organic and more expensive baby food brand she'd fed her babies contained higher amounts of BPA than any other brand on the shelf. She said that's why she and more than 800 other Mainers have signed a petition calling on the BEP to phase out the use of BPA that leeches into children's foods from lid and can liners as well as hard plastic. Mike Beliveau of the Environmental Health Strategies Center said just recently the Maine Department of Environmental Protection sent Notices of Violation to three baby food manufacturers that sell Gerber, Earth's Best and Beechnut, for allegedly failing to properly report BPA use in their food and beverage containers sold in Maine as is required under existing rules.

"We've found that those companies are flagrantly violating the BPA rule and we're pleased that DEP's taken an enforcement action against them," Beliveau said. "In the meantime, evidence has mounted that there are safer alternatives, that BPA is even more dangerous than we thought."

"We'll clearly be taking a look at all of the materials they have provided to us, the proposed rule, and we'll be working accordingly through our rule making process," said DEP Commissioner Patty Aho.

She said that in addition to the three baby food manufactures, several other companies are also facing potential reporting violations under the BPA rules. But as far as phasing out BPA from additional products under a new rule Aho said that decision will be left up to the BEP with input from the Maine Center for Disease Control.

"They are the experts in regards to the scientific analysis, the risk assessments and all of that type of toxicological work," Aho said. "That forms the basis of our comments to these particular rules."

Last year, at the same time Governor LePage was openly questioning the scientific basis for phasing out BPA in Maine, the former head of the Maine CDC was dismissed from her position. Under the previous administration, Dr. Dora Anne Mills had testified that BPA should become a priority chemical banned under the Kids Safe Products Act. Her contrary position to the governor's led some lawmakers to question whether that was the reason Mills was let go. Since then, supporters of the rule say there is even more compelling evidence that BPA is dangerous. Dr. Steven Feder is a pediatrician in Boothbay Harbor and president of the Maine Chapter of the American Academy of Pediatrics.

"Well documented science and further emerging data leave no doubt that, yes, BPA is harmful to fetuses, children and the developing brain," said Feder.

He said that's why his organization as well as the national AAP oppose the use of the chemical. A spokesperson for the governor disagrees about the clarity of the science on the BPA issue. In a written statement Adrienne Bennett pointS out that a few months ago the U.S. Food and Drug Administration declined to ban BPA on the grounds that scientific evidence does not suggest that low levels of exposure to BPA through food are unsafe. "There is not yet a consensus among scientists about BPA," she wrote. The BEP is expected to schedule a public hearing on the proposed rule in the next few months.