Fourteen of the largest public packaged food and beverage companies still use the controversial chemical bisphenol A (BPA) in their packaging despite studies linking the synthetic sex hormone to developmental problems, heart disease and diabetes, according to a new report by investors Green Century Capital Management (“Green Century”) and As You Sow.

Bisphenol A, a hormone-disrupting chemical that is the building block of polycarbonate plastic, has been found to leach out of six major brands of popular baby bottles sold in the United States and Canada. Baby’s Toxic Bottle: Bisphenol A leaching from Popular Brands of Baby Bottles, commissioned by a coalition of U.S. and Canadian environmental health organizations, tested plastic baby bottles in the U.S. and Canada,including products made by Avent, Disney/The First Years, Dr. Brown’s, Evenflo, Gerber, and Playtex, for leaching of bisphenol A. The U.S.bottles were purchased in nine states at major retailers: Babies”R”Us, CVS, Target, Toys”R”Us,Walgreens, and Wal-Mart. Tests found these popular bottle brands leach levels of bisphenolA (5-8 parts per billion) when heated. Laboratory experiments with animals show that exposure to this level of bisphenol A causes a range of adverse effects.

Pulp and paper mills that use chlorine or chlorine dioxide to whiten paper needlessly endanger more than 5.7 million people, according to a new report released today by NJPIRG.

To address the public health threats created by toxic waste sites, Congress established the nation’s premier toxic cleanup program, the Superfund, in 1980. Congress designed a funding structure for Superfund that placed the financial burden of cleaning up toxic contamination on the polluters by collecting three established fees from polluting industries.