A coalition of health advocates, looking to seize the momentum of a new administration, will meet with members of President-elect Barack Obama's transition team next week in Washington, D.C., to push for a ban on bisphenol A.

The fact that Obama's team is willing to meet now - with all the other pressures facing the incoming administration - sends a strong signal that the president-elect is open to making environmental health issues a higher priority than the Bush administration.

A meeting has been set, but participants are sketchy on details of who will be there because they say they do not want to call it to the attention of chemical manufacturers.

Chemical-makers have lobbied fiercely for years against any ban on the controversial chemical used to make baby bottles and thousands of other household products. The government has sent mixed signals on the safety of bisphenol A or BPA. Different agencies under the Bush administration have reached different conclusions about the risks. As a result, there has been no uniform policy on the chemical.

With influential members of Congress calling for a ban on BPA, health advocates say they are optimistic.

"I believe this will be banned," said Janet Nudelman, director of program and policy for the Breast Cancer Fund, an advocacy group aimed at preventing the disease, who plans to be at the meeting.

BPA has been linked to heart disease and diabetes in humans and has been found to interfere with chemotherapy for breast cancer patients. Animal studies have linked it to prostate and breast cancer, obesity, reproductive failures and behavioral problems, even at extremely low doses.

The meeting next week will deal with a host of environmental topics, but a key element will be a push to outlaw BPA.

"BPA has emerged as the newest and most frightening of toxic chemicals and that needs to be addressed urgently," Nudelman said.

Shortly after Obama was elected last month, a group of environmental health advocates representing 36 organizations sent a letter to his transition team decrying the influence of chemical-makers.

"Recent reports about industry influence and possible interference with our chemical regulatory policy on chemicals at the FDA, EPA and other agencies threaten the confidence of all consumers about American products, and about our government's role in protecting health," the letter said. "As we are sure you know, storms of controversy over chemicals in everything from shower curtains and lipstick, to baby bottles, infant formula, canned food, cars, toys and even pet food have increasingly unnerved parents and anyone concerned about public health."

The Journal Sentinel reported earlier this year that the American Chemistry Council, which represents chemical-makers, helped write significant portions of the Food and Drug Administration's draft declaring BPA to be safe. An FDA subcommittee later ruled that the FDA had ignored dozens of valid studies that found BPA to be harmful, and it recommended that the agency reconsider its ruling.

The group is asking for Obama to move quickly.

"Though its effects may not be as obvious, the deregulation of the chemical industry has hurt the United States just as much as the deregulation of Wall Street, with effects likely to last generations," the group wrote. "Scientists, physicians, health advocates, worker organizations, parent groups, health-affected groups and many others view fundamental reform to current chemical laws as urgent and necessary to protect children, workers, communities, and the environment now and in the future."

Bills in both the House and Senate will be re-introduced shortly after a new Congress is inaugurated next month. The House bill calls for a total ban on BPA in food and beverage packaging. The Senate bill limits the ban to products for children. Even though neither bill has been formally introduced, the principal authors have already signed up more than 20 co-sponsors in Congress.

Canada has declared BPA to be toxic and is moving to ban it in baby bottles, the lining of infant formula containers and all children's tableware.

The meeting next week comes at the same time that several agencies are gathering for a summit to brainstorm ways to help consumers move away from dependence on BPA.

The chemical is used to make dental sealants, eye glasses, DVDs, computer screens, bike helmets and medical equipment.

It is released when heated, and mimics estrogen. Last month, the Journal Sentinel tested 10 food containers for the presence of BPA. All 10 items were found to be leaching toxic levels of the chemical when heated, even products marked "microwave safe."

Chemical-makers say BPA is safe. But a growing legion of scientists has expressed concern.

Manufacturers have begun to remove BPA from their products as consumers steer clear of the chemical.

"That's the tipping point," Nudelman said. "Retailers know they won't win arguments with parents. They'll shop someplace else."