Cash Register Receipts Are a Surprising Home to BPA

Many parents have switched the type of bottles, serving dishes and silverware that they use when feeding their babies and children in an attempt to protect their children from the harmful effects due to exposure to BPA or Bisphenol-A. Further findings recommended not using plastic water bottles but instead using reusable ones due to the BPA found in the bottles as well as the more eco friendly nature of reusable bottles by eliminating them from our landfills. But there is another source of exposure to BPA, an unexpected one that could be exposing you to this harmful chemical several times a day, the simple cash register receipt.

BPA and the Cash Register Receipt

According to recent research by The Environmental Working Group (EWG) cash register receipts had levels of BPA that were "hundreds of times higher than amounts found in plastic water bottles, canned foods and baby bottles."

The BPA comes from a substance that acts as a color developer in carbonless copy paper and thermal paper. As a result BPA could be also present in packing slips and parking tickets.

People are exposed to BPA when they handle the paper. This can then be absorbed into the body or even passed onto our food and ingested. There is a high chance of heavier exposure when you "crumble" up your receipt spreading the contamination all around your hands.

According to John C. Warner and organic chemist and founder of the Warner Babcock Institute for Green Chemistry; the amount being released isn't minute it's actually quite substantial, ""When people talk about polycarbonate bottles, they talk about nanogram quantities of BPA [leaching out]," Warner observes. "The average cash register receipt that's out there and uses the BPA technology will have 60 to 100 milligrams of free BPA." By free, he explains, it's not bound into a polymer, like the BPA in polycarbonates. It's just the individual molecules loose and ready for uptake,"

The research on BPA and cash register receipts

To perform their research study, EWG collected 36 receipts from retailers in seven states and the District of Columbia and had them tested by the analytical laboratory at the University of Missouri-Columbia's Division of Biological Sciences. The laboratory first weighed, measured and photographed the receipts. Next they dissolved them in an alcohol and then analyzed them for BPA using a sensitive, standard BPA test method (High-Performance Liquid Chromatography (HPLC) with CoulArray detection).

The highest levels of BPA were found in cash register receipts from; KFC, the U.S. House of Representatives Cafeteria, The United States Postal Service, and Whole Foods (really "Whole Foods? Where I got to get all the organic products I love?). Surprisingly the stores or businesses with the lowest level of or no BPA included the store Target, Bank of America and the U.S. Senate Cafeteria had none. Maybe now Representatives will take the threat seriously.

Dangers of BPA

BPA, or Bisphenol-A, is an endocrine disruptor, a chemical that acts like the hormones of the endocrine system and disrupts their normal function. You may have heard of other endocrine disruptors like pthalates, PCB, and DDT. The effects may include low sperm count, LowT, birth defects, breast cancer, obesity and many other harmful physical effects.

Unfortunately BPA is being found in just about everyone. The CDC's National Biomonitoring Program found the chemical in the urine of 93 percent of Americans age six and older (Calafat 2008). With results like that how can you protect yourself from BPA exposure on cash register receipts? According to the research and the EWG you should:

Minimize receipt collection by declining receipts at gas pumps, ATMs and other machines when possible.

Never give a child a receipt to hold or play with.

After handling a receipt, wash hands before preparing and eating food (a universally recommended practice even for those who have not handled receipts).

Do not use alcohol-based hand cleaners after handling receipts. A recent study showed that these products can increase the skin's BPA absorption (Biedermann 2010).

Take advantage of store services that email or archive paperless purchase records.

Do not recycle receipts and other thermal paper. BPA residues from receipts will contaminate recycled paper.

Not sure if your paperwork or receipt contains BPA? Rub it with a coin if the paper discolors it is thermal paper and probably does contain some or high levels of BPA, conventional paper does not dissolve.

While everyone should wash their hands after handling papers, pregnant women especially should. I know even I have handed the receipt to kids after paying, they ask for it and like for feel "grown up" or like the pictures and coupons printed on the receipt, but now I know better. From now on, mark expenses in your check book or other journal and avoid the receipts by all. If you need to routinely turn in receipts for work consider using a Ziploc bag to reduce exposure instead of storing them in your wallet where than can expose you, your wallet and your hands to harmful chemicals.

Related Articles

The Kids Safe Chemical Act

Bad Habits: Disposable Plastic Bottles Good Habits: Green Alternatives

Sources:

Science New Magazine

Environmental Working Group Research Study

Tree Hugger.com

USA Today