Schenectady County Legislature Angelo Santabarbara joined Senator Charles Schumer to unveil a proposed bill that would ban the use of Bisphenol A, or BPA, in the manufacturing of baby bottles and other products designed for children because of the harmful side effects at the Family and Child Services Center in Troy on Nov. 12 at 1 p.m.
I’m really happy to see that we were out in front with this, said Santabarbara of the legislation that was passed in August of 2009 to ban the selling of BPA-laden products in local retailers throughout the county. Santabarbara made reference to Schumer in the original bill since the senator had introduced a similar proposal.
In a statement, Schumer said that BPA poses major health risks, especially to children. He is also planning to present a bill to the Senate which is nearly identical to the bill passed in the Schenectady County Legislature three months ago, according to Santabarbara.
`As more and more awareness increases, more people will not by BPA products,` said Santabarbara. The county legislature personally thanked Schumer for taking action on the use of BPA materials in products designed for young children.
In a statement, Santabarbara was happy to hear that Schenectady County was able to play a role in bringing this issue to the next level. `As the elected representatives of Schenectady County, we are closest to the people and our voice needs to be heard…now is the time to act,` said Santabarbara in a statement, `By passing this legislation, we encourage others at higher levels of government to take action as well. There is a better way and we need to encourage it.`
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