A study conducted by a team of researchers at the Yale School of Medicine has connected bisphenol A (BPA) to health problems in primates, including brain function and mood disorders.

The chemical provides shatterproof quality to polycarbonate plastic and, according to team members, often leaches into water and food, which has raised concerns about infants’ health, since it is possible for BPA to cause developmental problems in their brain and hormonal systems.

The study was published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences and it looked at monkeys that had been exposed to bisphenol A levels which are considered harmless to humans by the Environmental Protection Agency. Results showed that the chemical interfered with brain cell connections vital to learning and memory.

Up to this point, scientists do not know for sure whether the changes BPA causes in primates can be directly applied to humans.

BPA can be found in hundreds of items, such as sports bottles, baby bottles, food containers and compact discs. Even though the Federal Drug Administration issued a report which stated that biosphenol A is safe for use in food packaging and bottles, Canada intends to ban the use of BPA in baby bottles.

Moreover, major retailers Wal-Mart and Toys R Us have announced that they would be dropping BPA products next year and several makers of baby bottles and sports bottles are already using BPA-free plastic.

The report, released by the Department of Health and Human Services' National Toxicology Program, comes into contradiction with industry studies stating that there is minimal concern about BPA being a cause for development issues in infants.