Others agree. Two weeks ago, a draft report by a program of the National Institutes of Health concurred with the earlier evaluation of an independent scientific panel, concluding there was "some concern" about possible neural and behavioral effects in fetuses, infants and young children exposed to the chemical at current levels.
The plastics industry says products containing BPA are safe.
Nevertheless, some stores quickly began pulling baby bottles with BPA from their shelves. Manufacturers are working to eliminate the substance. Legislators have proposed bans.
Roberts, in addition to her research, cowrote an essay - "Babies, Bottles and Bisphenol A: The story of a Scientist-Mother" - that PLoS Biology, a journal of the Public Library of Science, published last summer.
A five-minute walk across campus leads to Roberts' backyard, where Siena Johnson, 21/2, puts down her plastic sippy cup and leaps up from a plastic picnic table, exclaiming happily, "My mommy's here!"
One-year-old Bristow Johnson is fretful, so in the kitchen, where plastic cups and lids form a colorful pile in the dish drain, Roberts fixes a plastic bottle of formula.
In the living room, Siena drops to the floor to play with her plastic dolls.
"That's one of the problems," says Roberts. "As a mother, you'd go insane if you tried to take away every single plastic thing from your child. That's all there is."
For that matter, she doesn't want to take away all plastics. They're washable and bleachable, have no splinters, and the embedded colorant won't chip off.
So she prioritizes, focusing on clear, hard plastics (more likely to contain BPA) that will probably end up in her children's mouths.
Bristow's bottles are made by Medela, one of the BPA-free brands that have proliferated in just the short time since Siena was an infant.
Siena's heart was set on a Dora the Explorer sippy cup. Roberts was relieved to discover it, too, was BPA-free.
