Thanks For Your Purchase, Here's Your BPA Receipt

I wanted to continue the discussion about bisphenol A (BPA). In addition to plastic bottles, toys, and food can linings, bisphenol A can be found in the chemical coating on thermal papers - the type used in cash registers that turn color when exposed to heat.

Just a reminder that bisphenol A is considered an endocrine disruptor because it mimics estrogen, a natural hormone, and may fool the body by stimulating reactions that are unnecessary and potentially harmful. Scientists have linked BPA to a higher incidence of heart disease, diabetes and liver abnormalities in adults as well as brain and hormone development problems in fetuses and young children. Other tests have shown that BPA can promote human breast cancer cell growth, decrease sperm counts in rats, and cause erectile dysfunction and other sexual problems in men.

From the article: EWG Tests Find High BPA Loads on Receipts

Laboratory tests commissioned by Environmental Working Group (EWG) have found high levels of the endocrine-disrupting chemical bisphenol A (BPA) on 40 percent of receipts sampled from major U.S. businesses and services, including outlets of McDonald's, CVS, KFC, Whole Foods, WalMart, Safeway and the U.S. Postal Service. Receipts from Target, Starbucks, Bank of America ATMs and other enterprises were BPA-free or contained only trace amounts.

The total amounts of BPA on receipts tested were 250 to 1,000 times greater than other, more widely discussed sources of BPA exposure, including canned foods, baby bottles and infant formula.

Wipe tests conducted by the lab easily removed BPA, indicating that the chemical could rub off on the hands of a person handling the receipt.

Several recent studies have shown than BPA is easily absorbed into the body through the skin. Once BPA makes it through your layers of skin, it has easy access to your bloodstream.

A study published July 11 by scientists with the Official Food Control Authority of the Canton of Zürich in Switzerland found that BPA transfers readily from receipts to skin and can penetrate the skin to such a depth that it cannot be washed off. This raises the possibility that the chemical infiltrates the skin's lower layers to enter the bloodstream directly.

As a consumer, we're often asked if we want our receipt. We say "yes" right? Or push that 'yes' button on the gas pump. And then what do you do with those receipts? Save them? Trash them? How many times do you actually need the receipt? On a side note, don't recycle the BPA receipts because traces of BPA are now being found in 'recycled' paper.

Solutions? You could start reducing your exposure by not getting the receipt! Which also saves paper and the extra handling of that toxic 'goodie' not only by you but the cashier too. Imagine how much BPA a cashier is being exposed to by the repetitive handling of receipts. Being a new cashier myself, I'm overjoyed that Ukiah Natural Foods receipts are BPA free (there is only one company that makes the thermal imaging receipts without the BPA residue). Yeah for UNF!
You may also choose to shop and support businesses where you can get receipts that do not have the BPA residue!