Eleven makers of plastic baby bottles and formula were urged by three state attorneys general to stop using the chemical bisphenol A after studies linked it to cancer, diabetes, and the early onset of puberty.

Connecticut Attorney General Richard Blumenthal and his counterparts in New Jersey, Anne Milgram, and Delaware, Beau Biden, sent letters yesterday to bottle-makers such as Energizer Holding Inc.'s Playtex Infant Care and formula producers including Abbott Laboratories Inc. and Wyeth, Blumenthal's staff said. Some companies, among them Playtex, have already replaced the chemical in their bottles.

Bisphenol A, or BPA, has been used for decades to help stiffen plastic to make many baby bottles and food-storage containers and to line metal cans. While the Food and Drug Administration says the chemical is safe, research from other agencies has identified serious health risks when the chemical leaches into food and beverages.

"We call for the immediate elimination of this dangerous chemical from our children's food," Blumenthal told the companies in the letters.

Labels on baby bottles and formula containers are not required to say whether they contain bisphenol A.

Adults exposed to higher levels of BPA are twice as likely to develop cardiovascular disease or diabetes, according to a study in the Journal of the American Medical Association last month.

Animal studies reviewed by the National Toxicology Program this year also linked the chemical to developmental changes in fetuses and young children. The group, which like the FDA is part of the Health and Human Services Department, ranked the risk level for children in the middle of a five-point scale.

An estimated 93 percent of Americans have bisphenol A traces in their urine, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The chemical was declared "toxic" by the Canadian government in April. The FDA is reviewing its safety assessment and has scheduled an advisory panel meeting Oct. 31.