Gettin’ Under Our Skin: Toxic BPA on Printed Register Receipts

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Did you know that after touching a single printed register receipt, BPS and BPA coating chemicals can enter your bloodstream within minutes?

“There’s more BPA in a single thermal paper receipt than the total amount than would leach out from one polycarbonate water bottle used for many years,” said John Warner, Ph.D., of Warner Babcock Institute for Green Chemistry.

Research has linked BPA to an increased risk of breast and prostate cancers, cardiovascular disease, as well as brain development and reproductive abnormalities. BPA is mutagenic and pro-inflammatory.

Consumer Reports found toxic bisphenol A (BPA) or its chemical cousin bisphenol S (BPS) in 93% of the printed receipts tested. (See 6 practical actions to lower risk below)!

BPA and BPS In Small Doses

These endocrine disruptors mimic estrogen, disrupt thyroid hormone and otherwise interrupt the body’s normal functioning.  Alongside the health issues I mentioned above, we see diabetes and obesity, too.

Female mice that were exposed to BPA as fetuses developed abnormalities of the ovaries, uterus, and vagina. Other studies found genetic abnormalities in eggs, an increased risk of mammary cancers, and early puberty in females. (source)

Unlike some chemicals that are only toxic at certain doses, scientists have found that even low doses of these chemicals can impact fetal development and may contribute to reproductive impairment, ADHD in boys, and autism.

The pregnant workers who handle toxic receipts (and their babies) may be the most vulnerable to exposure.

And say this aloud until it sinks in: BPS can disrupt normal maternal behaviors in the brain! Could this affect maternal bonding?

Click through the links! See the studies!

BPS as bad as BPA

The most common replacement chemical for BPA in receipt paper, BPS, and emerging science suggests it may be just as bad as BPA.

It’s a classic case of a regrettable substitute.

What happens when you handle a toxic receipt?

Because of the way ink develops in thermal register paper, BPA and BPS are in their free form and not bound to the paper. When handled, the chemicals can easily transfer to anything the receipt touches:

• your hands
• your desk and pen/pencil/keyboard when balancing your books
• your credit card or money
• your steering wheel
• groceries
• your bags
• your wallet and handbag

We know now that, even briefly, handling receipts leads to significant BPA or BPS absorption into the body.

Thermal paper also used for:

• cheese and deli meat labels
• most movie, theme park, and concert passes
• gas station receipts
• boarding passes
• restaurant food tickets
• library book receipts
• small and independent business receipts

It’s pretty hard to avoid. More BPA is absorbed when thermal paper is handled with greasy or wet fingers.

Using hand lotion and hand sanitizer increases speed of absorption of BPA.

What you can do to minimize your risk:

1. Wear nitrile gloves (available online or at drugstores) if your job requires frequent contact with receipts.

2. Avoid handling thermal paper if you are pregnant and keep it out of children’s hands too.  Studies suggest prenatal and early life exposure to BPA poses the greatest potential health risks. (source Consumer Reports)

3. Try to touch only the non-glossy backside, if you must handle a receipt (it still has BPA, but less).

4. Use a sealed plastic bag to store receipts you need to keep rather than carrying them loose in your wallet, purse or shopping bag. Toxicity apparently doesn’t lessen with time. The coating can just as easily rub off on other items and when you handle those, you’ll be picking up the BPA.

5. Wash your hands as soon as possible after touching receipts, especially before cooking or eating food.  Use soap and water rather than alcohol-based hand sanitizers, which increase the skin’s ability to absorb BPA.

6. Decline paper receipts at gas pumps, ATMs or retail cash registers, opting instead to have your receipt e-mailed if you’re given that choice. If you can, use your smartphone for plane and train tickets.