July 28, 2010 11:08 AM

BPA Receipts Bombshell: Paper Slips Contain High Levels of Bisphenol A

By
Aina Hunter
Topics
News ,
Cancer ,
Research

iPhotoimage

(CBS) If you're worried about being exposed to the cancer-causing compound BPA, you may already know to be wary of some water bottles and food cans.

But you'll never guess where BPA, a.k.a. bisphenol A, is showing up now:

Cash register receipts.

Extraordinarily high levels of BPA were found on two-fifths of the paper receipts tested recently by the Environmental Working Group, a nonprofit organization in Washington, D.C.

In some cases, the amount of BPA on a given receipt was 1,000 times the levels found in a can of food.

Receipts were collected from ATM's, grocery stores, fast food restaurants, gas stations and the like. "Wipe tests" showed that the coating of BPA of paper receipts would likely stick to the skin of anyone who handled them.

The chemical can be absorbed into the skin and transferred to the digestive tract by touching the mouth.

Animal tests have linked BPA exposure to a range of health problems, including cancer, obesity, diabetes, and early puberty. The studies are controversial though, and how they related to human health is not fully clear, according to WebMD.

The organization offered tips for consumers eager to limit their exposure to BPA on receipts, including washing your hands after handling receipts and never giving a child a receipt to play with.

But maybe the best tip is simply to decline the offer for a printed receipt after an ATM transaction.

After all, in this economy, who needs to be reminded of their balance?

More tips here.


Add a Comment See all 13 Comments
by GogogoStopSTOP October 6, 2010 9:52 AM EDT
Dear Alna Hunter,

You are a complete, egotistical fool. There are no accepted, peer reviewed studies to show that 'receipts' cause cancer. The UN's IPCC organization tried this same scare technique with Global Warming... get a few thousand scientists together, have them write about uncertainties, maybe's, could be's, etc, etc. Then they put a cover letter on it written by activists that say the Himalaya glaciers are disappearing, the African food crops are disappearing etc, etc... AND ALL OF A SUDDEN EVERYONE SAYS THE SKY IS FALLING!!!

Scare tactics, scare tactics... nothing less, GO AWAY!
Reply to this comment
by citpiz August 20, 2010 3:29 PM EDT
Even if this is true, not asking for a receipt or simply throwing it out right away solves YOUR problem, but what about people (like me) who work with receipts all day long? Everything is printed on receipt paper where I worked, and after reading about this recent "scare," I tried timing how long I go between touching receipts....less than every 2 minutes! 8 hours a day! all day! Getting receipts in emails, and other temporary band-aid solutions only help a small portion of the population.
Reply to this comment
by GogogoStopSTOP October 6, 2010 9:43 AM EDT
I have an instant solution: QUIT!

Get over it or, quit... stop complaining!
by Appleton_Papers August 9, 2010 3:04 PM EDT
Appleton Papers, which makes more than 50 percent of the receipt paper sold in the U.S., stopped using BPA in 2006. After reviewing available science we concluded removing BPA from our thermal products was the responsible thing to do. In doing so, we gave retailers and restaurants a safe, easy and cost-competitive choice. Our BPA-free thermal receipt paper is available globally.

We realize that many of our competitors continue to use BPA despite mounting concerns about its safety. We are actively participating in the EPA?s BPA Alternatives in Thermal Paper Partnership. We hope the remainder of the thermal paper industry moves away from potentially harmful BPA. More information about the partnership is available on the EPA website: http://www.epa.gov/dfe/pubs/projects/bpa/index.htm

For more information about Appleton and our BPA-free thermal paper products, visit www.appletonideas.com.
Reply to this comment
by frazerhodge August 5, 2010 12:11 PM EDT
The report fails to identify that there is already technology out there to eliminate paper receipts and reduce exposure to BPA and other environmental concerns. Google and you will find a Canadian company (http://www.mirano.ca) is able to deliver receipts on your smartphone such Blackberry.

The problem with paper receipts is mindset. Are consumers are willing to accept electronic receipts instead of paper based receipts? Take the example of electronic bills, it took a long time to catch on and not everyone is comfortable with dealing with electronic biils. They still want to see paper bills and receipts and hence the concern for BPA.
Reply to this comment
by caddotx July 29, 2010 11:51 AM EDT
Hunter, the writer of this piece of trash article should be ashamed. She starts off with an inflammatory statement - cancer causing compound BPA. Not sure where she got this factoid, but anything can kill you (or cause cancer) if you put enough of it in your body??water, soy, almonds, meat, etc. It (not sure if the writer is m/f?) goes on to write that animal studies have linked BPA exposure to?..again wrong! There are a host of human and animal studies around BPA and all of the ?bad? studies have never been duplicated or are simply not worthy of review?.my favorite is measuring free BPA in college students who supposedly quit consuming beverages for a period of time?.not even worthy of a junior high science fair. So unless you are grinding these receipts into a powder and injecting the final product in your arm, quit worrying!
Reply to this comment
by ProChoiceVax July 28, 2010 7:54 PM EDT
"Bisphenol-A (BPA) is Everywhere, including your toilet paper"

?When people talk about polycarbonate bottles, they talk about nanogram quantities of BPA [leaching out],? John C. Warner of the Warner Babcock Institute for Green Chemistry 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..

http://www.myonethirdacre.com/?p=42
Reply to this comment
by concernedaboutmyhealth July 28, 2010 7:05 PM EDT
Isn't it prudent to be safe rather than sorry. No one should ignore a health warning, especially when it comes from a credible source. Receipt paper is ubiquitous and we have our hands all over it all day long...at the gas station, at the atm, at the supermarket....everywhere. We should all be VERY VERY concerned about this.
You can't avoid contact with this stuff. Isn't it just as easy to have your receipt emailed to you, or even texted (I am sure the technology exists for this) and aren't we not just saving lives, but also the environment???
Supermarkets, Banks, Casinos, Gas Stations, etc etc need to do something about this NOW. Get rid of paper receipts and get into the digital age!
Reply to this comment
by LKens July 28, 2010 4:14 PM EDT
Yes, please let us put the hundreds of thousands of people who work in the receipt paper industry out of jobs by emailing receipts. Just what this country needs.
Reply to this comment
by getrealxoxo July 28, 2010 2:57 PM EDT
Get real people! BPA in receipts is not going to kill you, unless you are going to rub the receipt into your skin. As far as I know no smart person licks their fingers after shopping or after holding the receipts/money/clothes/shoes/appliances, etc. Moreover, people usually wash the food produce they buy and wash their hands. Read JunkScienceMom's article on this receipts issue, and more importantly - don't panic! http://******/ckvwu9
Reply to this comment
by LeoKinLA July 28, 2010 3:59 PM EDT
Whoa, wait a minute: Yes, don't panic - but don't blow this off, either! (You do so at your own risk.) This is NOT junk science! I work in cancer research and there are 100's of studies now showing alarming effects of even extremely LOW amounts of BPA on animal and human cells. Vanishingly small amounts have been shown to induce breast cancers in mice and rats - and all these are reports in highly reputable, peer-reviewed science and medical journals.

Sure, nobody eats their receipts - though little kids might - but this class of chemicals, 'endocrine (hormonal) disruptors', have effects at very low doses. Their effects are strongest during development - pregnancy and childhood.

Why is there so much breast cancer? Why is the age of puberty in girls getting younger and younger? Why are the rates of infertility higher than ever before? Increases in male erectile dysfunction? Etc!

We don't know for sure if it's BPA and related stuff - but do you want to be careful or be reckless?? Especially with your kids and loved ones?? "We don't know for sure" is exactly what the chemical industry is saying about BPA - just like was said about cigarettes and cancer (and is now said about global warming by the millionaire CEO's standing to lose money from carbon tax).

This is another case where our Food and Drug Administration has dragged its feet for years while the chemical industries are allowed to poison us slowly. Between 'we don't know for sure' excuses and republican deregulation fanatics, who the h*ll is protecting the American peoples' health???

'Get real' indeed! What ever happened to erring on the side of caution?? For more info, google 'pandora's water bottle'...
by scron July 28, 2010 1:20 PM EDT
If this can not be resolved with all the users of Iphones, Blackberrys, and have access to emails to reduce use of paper and be a way to contact customers why not allow / suggest retailers ask for the email address, input it into POS sytem and offer to send the reciept by Email versus a printout. Many customers are inundated with such paper receipts. And maybe this will be just another good environment reason to shop online and get your receipt by email or print it out on your own paper!
Reply to this comment
by frazerhodge August 5, 2010 12:11 PM EDT
Google and you will find a Canadian company (http://www.mirano.ca) is able to deliver receipts on your smartphone such Blackberry.

The problem is mindset. Are consumers are willing to accept electronic receipts instead of paper based receipts? Take the example of electronic bills, it took a long time to catch on and not everyone is comfortable with dealing with electronic biils. They still want to see paper bills. That's the problem.
See all 13 Comments
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