A couple of states not usually known as upstarts took matters into their own hands last week.

The Maryland General Assembly is one step closer to passing a bill banning Bisphenol A in baby bottles and sippy cups, now that the state's House and Senate have matching bills. BPA, a chemical used in clear plastic bottles and in the linings of food and beverage cans, has been linked to developmental and reproductive problems.

Assuming the governor signs the bill, Maryland will prohibit the sale, manufacture or distribution of children’s toys or child-care articles that contain BPA starting in 2012.
 
Maryland joins Connecticut, Minnesota, Canada and several cities and counties in banning the chemical from specific products. Bills are pending in other states, but so far Congress hasn’t managed to ban BPA nationwide, though bills have been introduced in both the House and the Senate.
 
And in Kentucky, state officials are seeing to it that word of recalled children’s products gets to parents and child-care providers. “KY Kids Alert” will e-mail recall notices to some 1,500 child-care centers and homes that have e-mail addresses on file, and mail quarterly notices to another 1,400 that don’t.
 
The Kentucky AG’s office and the Kentucky Cabinet for Health and Family Services are also working with other state agencies to get the news out about hazardous children’s products. As we’ve written before, half the battle in preventing recalled products from harming anyone is just getting the word out that there’s been a recall.
 
Which is why, in September, Consumer Reports launched a school safety alert program. We teamed up with the National Parent Teacher Association (PTA) and the National School Boards Association (NSBA) to distribute Web-based safety alerts and recall notices on children’s products including toys, food, furniture and clothing.