The U.S. Food and Drug Administration is expected to decide by Saturday whether to continue allowing bisphenol-A (BPA) in food and beverage containers, Americans’ main source of exposure to the chemical implicated in everything from asthma to diabetes. Studies show that developing fetuses and young children are most vulnerable to the risks. Impoverished kids, whose meals more often come out of BPA-leaching plastic packages and coated metal cans, may bear the brunt of the burden. “Hormonally active chemicals such as BPA have no place in our kids’ life,” Sarah Janssen, senior scientist with the Natural Resources Defense Council, told reporters last week. The impetus for the FDA’s pending action is a 2008 petition filed by the NRDC. In December, a court ruled that the agency had to answer the NRDC’s request for a ban on BPA by March 31.

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