Health and environmental advocates gathered in Portland today to call for more aggressive federal regulation of a plastic additive used to make baby bottles and other products.

Members of the Alliance for a Clean and Healthy Maine, joined by parents and physicians, said bisphenol-A is a toxic, hormone-disrupting chemical that can leach out of baby bottles, sippy cups and the linings of food cans. The group is delivering letters enclosed in baby bottles to members of Maine's congressional delegation calling for restrictions on the chemical's use in products that contact food.

The local effort coincided with a Food and Drug Administration hearing on the chemical in Washington, D.C., today. Critics have accused the FDA of ignoring evidence that bisphenol-A poses a variety of heath risks to children.

Representatives of the chemical industry have argued that the research does not prove there is any risk to human health from the chemical's use.

Copyright 2008 Portland Press Herald/Maine Sunday Telegram. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.