The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has agreed to exclude baby bottles and non-spill cups from regulation that permit companies to use bisphenol A in food-contact applications.

The decision, announced 17 July in the Federal Register, was the result of an October 2011 petition from the American Chemistry Council, to clarify for consumers that BPA is no longer used in those products.

All major baby bottle manufacturers that make products for the US market agreed in 2009 not to make or sell baby bottles or non-spill cups that contain BPA.

ACC’s request also was aimed at bringing a halt to state and local legislative efforts to ban BPA.

“Consumers can be confident that these products do not contain BPA,” FDA spokesman Allen Curtis said in a statement.

“Although governments around the world continue to support the safety of BPA in food contact materials, confusion about whether BPA is used in baby bottles and sippy cups had become an unnecessary distraction to consumers, legislators and state regulators,” said Steven Hentges, director of ACC’s Polycarbonate/BPA Global Group.

“FDA action on this request now provides certainty that BPA is not used to make the baby bottles and non-spill cups on store shelves, either today or in the future,” Hentges said in a statement.