MILWAUKEE – Leaders from both the House and Senate introduced legislation Friday to establish a federal ban on bisphenol A in all food and beverage containers.

The bills, introduced by Rep. Edward Markey, D-Mass., and Sens. Dianne Feinsteinm D-Calif., and Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., greatly expand earlier efforts to limit the chemical from products for babies and children only.

The move comes a day after Sunoco, the gas and chemical company, sent word to investors that it was now refusing to sell bisphenol A, commonly known as BPA, to companies for use in food and water containers for children younger than 3. Sunoco told investors that it could not be certain of the compound’s safety.

Tests conducted for the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel last year found toxic levels of the chemical in all 10 packaged products, including those marked as “microwave safe.”

The amounts detected were at levels that scientists have found cause neurological and developmental damage in laboratory animals. The problems include genital defects, behavioral changes and abnormal development of mammary glands.

The changes to the mammary glands were identical to those observed in women at higher risk for breast cancer.

More recent studies using human data have linked BPA to heart disease and diabetes. It has been found to interfere with the effects of chemotherapy in breast cancer patients.