Gov. Patrick is heading in the right direction on BPA--but he needs to get there faster.

Last week, [Governor] Patrick announced that he's ordered the Department of Public Health to prepare draft regulations that would ban the use of BPA in certain consumer products. "We are taking this action as a precaution to protect vulnerable children in the light of evidence about potential dangers of BPA," Patrick said in a press release. The announcement comes several months after the DPH issued a public warning against storing expressed breast milk or baby formula in containers made with BPA.

…The environmental group Clean Water Action responded to Patrick's announcement with limited praise. While the group said it's "pleased" that the governor has taken up the issue, it's also anxious to see Massachusetts move beyond the limited bans like Minnesota's to create a wider-reaching policy that addresses other sources of BPA exposure.

"We need to see it include cans. Unfortunately, the governor stopped short of including cans in his statement," Elizabeth Saunders, environmental health legislative director of Clean Water Action Massachusetts, told the Advocate. "We'd like to see a stronger stance coming from Gov. Patrick."