From Business Week:

The Wisconsin state Senate has passed a bill that would ban the chemical bisphenol A from baby bottles and other cups for children.

The Senate passed the bill unanimously Tuesday. A similar bill also passed unanimously out of an Assembly committee on Tuesday as well.

The Senate bill would ban BPA in cups and bottles intended for children under age 3.

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And from The News Tribune:

A bill to ban the use of an industrial chemical found in food and beverage containers used by children sailed through the House on Monday on a 95-1 vote.

If the legislation becomes law, Washington will join Minnesota and Connecticut as the only states to eliminate bisphenol A (BPA) in children’s products.

The vote came 10 days after the U.S. Food and Drug Administration voiced concerns about BPA’s potential effects on the brain, behavior and prostate gland of fetuses, infants and young children.

The BPA ban in children’s food and beverage containers, and water bottles was one of three priorities of the environmental community in the 2010 state Legislature.

The state legislation is necessary because the FDA didn’t endorse an outright ban on BPA in children’s products, supporters of the bill said.

From The New York Times:

European and American drug regulators had two starkly different reactions this week to data on an obesity drug. The raw data from the study indicated that people with certain health problems who took the prescription diet drug Meridia had more heart attacks, strokes and other cardiovascular problems than people getting a placebo.

On Thursday, the European Medicines Agency advised doctors and pharmacists to stop prescribing and dispensing European equivalents of Meridia. The Food and Drug Administration, looking at the same study data on Thursday, took a less forceful step and asked Abbott Laboratories, the maker of Meridia, to put a stronger warning on its label.

The F.D.A. said the new warning should indicate that the drug was not to be used by people who have a history of heart attacks or strokes, or who have uncontrolled high blood pressure.

Abbott, which sells Meridia in Europe under various brand names, including Reductil and Ectiva, indicated Friday that it would comply with the F.D.A.’s labeling request and with the European advisory by suspending sales of the drugs in Europe.

Meridia contains the ingredient sibutramine, which works by increasing neurotransmitter activity in the brain, helping people to feel full after a meal and thereby reducing their food intake. The company said the drug was safe and effective when used in appropriate patients.

The study, called the Scout trial, was the first test to see if a diet drug could reduce the risks of heart attacks.

Some experts said the finding that Meridia actually increased such risk in some high-risk patients rather than reduce it could raise questions about the safety of other diet drugs. The findings might also raise the safety hurdle for new obesity drugs to win approval. However, some experts said the problems might be unique to Meridia, which clearly raises blood pressure and heart rate.

In any case, the significantly different actions by the two health authorities is stirring debate among drug makers and consumer advocates. Did the European agency act too quickly on a set of preliminary data — or was it moving more forcefully to defend consumer health than its American counterpart?

Meanwhile, the F.D.A. said it planned to wait for the company’s complete report on the study, due in March, before considering further action on the drug.