Is Your Holiday Shopping Exposing You to Dangerous BPA?

Every time you handle a store receipt that was printed on thermal paper using bisphenol-a (BPA), a little bit of this estrogen-mimicking chemical rubs off onto your fingers. When you put it in your wallet, it rubs off onto other receipts and onto your money. Some scientists theorize that exposure from powdery residue off store receipts may be a more important pathway of exposure than the much more high-profile presence of BPA in plastic drinking bottles.

In fact, a recent study by Washington Toxics Coalition and Safer Chemicals Healthy Families found traces of BPA on 21 of the 22 currency bills tested. The ubiquity of the chemical means that even the most conscientious consumer can not avoid it. That’s why Science News identified revelations about BPA on store receipts and money as one of its top environmental stories of the year.

BPA is in a class of chemicals known as endocrine-disrupters, meaning that it disrupts normal hormone functions in animals. It has been linked to numerous health issues, including cancer, neurological problems, reproductive difficulties, diabetes, obesity and more. Efforts to ban BPA use in the United States have so far been thwarted, most recently when a ban on BPA use in baby bottles was stripped from the Food Safety Modernization Act passed this fall.

The coalition suggests the following steps to reduce your BPA exposure:

Refuse a receipt when you can.
Store your receipts separately, such as in a small envelope, in your wallet or purse.
Wash your hands after handing receipts or money.
Keep receipts away from young children.

The Washington Toxics Coalition and other chemical experts also recommend the following actions for limiting other sources of BPA exposure:

Limit your intake of canned foods or choose BPA- free, such as those from Eden Foods.
Choose glass, stainless steel and cloudy, BPA-free plastic bottles over polycarbonate drinking bottles.
Choose powdered rather than liquid infant formula, which absorbs BPA from the can lining.

A round up of Science News and Care2 stories on BPA in 2010

January – Health concerns about BPA leads to federal government recommendation that parents minimize their kids’ exposure to plastics containing BPA (Care2, SN Online: 1/15/10).
February – BPA is linked to a variety of health concerns including heart disease in adults (SN: 2/13/10, p. 13).
May – BPA is linked to increased risk of diabetes in pregnant animals and their young (SN Online: 5/19/10).
August – BPA is found on the paper used for many store receipts (SN: 8/28/10, p. 5).
September – Canada declares BPA to be a toxic substance (Care2).
November – Europe bans BPA in plastic baby bottles (Care2). The only U.S. supplier of BPA-free cash register begins to tag its paper (SN Online: 11/8/10).
December – BPA is linked to allergies in children (Care2). Traces of BPA is detected on U.S. currency (SN Online: 12/8/10)

Read more: bisphenol a, BPA, chemicals, health policy, toxic chemicals, Toxics

Gift receipt photo by Flickr user billaday

Disclaimer: The views expressed above are solely those of the author and may not reflect those of
Care2, Inc., its employees or advertisers.

Danuta W.

2:02AM PST on Dec 28, 2010

Thanks for the information!

send a green star

jane r.

4:56PM PST on Dec 23, 2010

Thanks for point this out

Amber B.

9:09AM PST on Dec 23, 2010

wow that's crazy, never thought about that!

Sheri P.

7:56PM PST on Dec 21, 2010

Why must it be on receipts? I will avoid getting a receipt whenever possible from now on...

Past Member .

2:49PM PST on Dec 21, 2010

This was eye opening. I have stopped the canned food completely, but receipts, wow one never knows does one?

Marvela P.

1:18PM PST on Dec 21, 2010

Amazing the wrath of chemicals that the manufacturers have seen fit to dump on us! Unbelievable that the things we think are the most innocuous like food packaging and receipts at the market are chemical enemies to all of us! It is scary to think of those that work retail and handle them all day! We have to find a better way!

Donna E.

11:52AM PST on Dec 21, 2010

I would like to know why the manufacturers felt a need to put BPA in receipt paper in the first place. Maybe the chemical companies are "dumping" it through this vehicle which will result in severe consequences. Aside from us handling them, the receipts are either put in the garbage or recycled after shredding which will then end up in the ground or other consumer products. I would like to know if we breathe in BPA when we shred the receipts or for those that burn them, does it end up in the air?

Colin H.

8:05AM PST on Dec 21, 2010

Noted!!

Marianna B M.

2:04AM PST on Dec 21, 2010

noted

Walter G.

1:17PM PST on Dec 20, 2010

Thanks to your revelation, I no longer feed the register tickets to our goat.