But the new prohibition does not apply more broadly to the use of BPA in other containers, said an F.D.A. spokesman, Steven Immergut. He said the decision did not amount to a reversal of the agency's position on the chemical. Michael Taylor, deputy commissioner for foods at the agency, said the decision simply codified what the industry was already doing based on the preference of consumers and did not reflect concerns about the safety of BPA in baby bottles or toddler's cups. The decision "solidifies legally that the use will not happen again in the future" in baby bottles and cups for toddlers, he said. He added that the agency "has been looking hard at BPA for a long time, and based on all the evidence, we continue to support its safe use." BPA has been used since the 1960s to make hard plastic bottles, cups for toddlers and the linings of food and beverage cans, including those that hold infant formula and soda. Reports of potentially negative health effects have made BPA notorious, especially among parents, and led to widespread shunning of products thought to contain the chemical. In 2010, the F.D.A. said that it had "some concern about the potential effects of BPA on the brain, behavior and prostate gland of fetuses, infants and children." The American Chemistry Council said in a statement that it had asked the F.D.A. to take action because of confusion, stirred by state legislative and regulatory actions, about whether baby bottles and cups for toddlers contain BPA. It said that manufacturers announced years ago that they had stopped using the chemical in those items. Public health advocates praised the agency's decision, but said the chemical still presented a health risk. "The F.D.A. is slowly making progress on this issue, but they are doing the bare minimum here," said Diana Zuckerman, president of the National Research Center for Women and Families. They are instituting a ban that is already in effect voluntarily. Some advocates also pointed out that the decision did not include BPA used in containers of baby formula. Dennis M. Keefe, director of the office of food additive safety at the F.D.A., said that a decision on the chemical's use in such products was under review.