The Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) is suing the Food and Drug Administration with the hopes of forcing the agency to regulate bisphenol-A (BPA), a chemical commonly found in hard plastics (like reusable water and baby bottles), the lining of food and beverage containers, and other everyday products. Exposure to BPA has been linked to developmental disorder, cancer, heart diseases, and other health problems.

In October 2008, NRDC petitioned the FDA to set safety standards for bisphenol-A in food. “In light of the data suggesting that BPA is harmful to human health, and in response to the well-founded concerns of experts in the field, FDA must prohibit BPA from use in human food and food packaging, including in can linings and in beverage containers like baby bottles,” the petition says. Under the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act, FDA had 90 days to grant the petition and begin a rulemaking, deny the petition, or ask for an extension of the 90-day time limit.

Instead, FDA did nothing. Nil, nada, squadoosh. So, on June 29, NRDC filed suit in the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals asking the court to order FDA to respond to the petition.

“Our patience has run out,” NRDC scientist Sarah Jannsen wrote on the group’s website. “Most people assume that the government wouldn’t allow Americans to be exposed to BPA if it wasn’t safe, but while the FDA has been reviewing the science, as of yet, no action has been taken.”

Meanwhile, states continue to act in the absence of federal regulation. California’s state assembly moved the nation’s largest state one step closer to banning BPA in baby bottles and other products intended for infants and small children when it passed on July 1 the Toxics-Free Babies and Toddlers Act. The bill now moves to the state senate, where similar legislation has already passed.

“If passed, [the bill] would require the manufacturers of baby bottles, cups and jars to discontinue use of BPA by January 2012,” according to the Los Angeles Times. “Makers of infant formula would need to comply by July 2012.”

In January, FDA announced the results of a scientific evaluation of BPA and declared that it has “some concern” about the chemical’s health effects. However, the agency stopped short of outlining a regulatory path to limit consumer exposure to BPA.