The vote by the New York county of Suffolk would ban BPA from baby bottles and cups sold in the county that are intended for children three years old or younger, and similar bills are currently under consideration in the US states of Washington, Minnesota and Connecticut.
BPA is also used in epoxy resins for internal protective linings for canned food and metal lids.
The non-profit group, the Consumers Union (CU) recently called on the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to ban BPA in children’s products and food containers, and it said the food safety regulator has enough scientific data to support such a move.
Further research
The FDA said it is planning to analyze and conduct a series of studies to determine how BPA affects infants.
However, Dr Urvashi Rangan, senior scientist and policy analyst at the CU, maintains that the FDA should act immediately to protect high risk populations, such as children and babies, while it gathers more data on the packaging chemical.
BPA level in blood
In addition, the CU has urged the FDA to make public all testing information on BPA with the organisation also encouraging the agency to do more bio-monitoring of blood levels of the packaging chemical in people.
The FDA's assessment of BPA has been criticised by scientists and US lawmakers.
Last year, the agency claimed the packaging chemical was safe at current levels in consumer products but it used industry-funded reports to support this assessment.
The scientific community argued that the FDA, in its review of the chemical, should have also included independent studies that raise uncertainties in regard to the potential effects of low dose exposure to BPA in humans, in particular infants.
Canada banned the use of BPA in the manufacture of baby bottles in 2008, a move which FDA officials have described as overly cautious.