AUGUSTA – More than a dozen mothers turned in signatures Thursday to try to compel the state Board of Environmental Protection to ban the chemical bisphenol-A from baby and toddler food packaging.

“No child should be exposed to the hormone havoc of BPA at the dinner table,” said Annie Colaluca, a mother of three from Waterville.

The chemical is a common additive in some hardened plastics. Maine has banned it from baby bottles, sippy cups and reusable food and beverage containers. The groups want the state to extend the ban to cans and jars that hold baby and toddler foods.

The Alliance for a Clean and Healthy Maine, an umbrella organization for groups including the Environmental Health Strategy Center and the Natural Resources Council of Maine, organized the effort to gather more than 800 signatures. The state requires at least 150 valid signatures to be turned in before it will begin considering a new rule.

The groups want the state to require that BPA be phased out of foods marketed to children under 3.

 

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