There is a growing awareness about the hazards of bisphenol A (BPA), and continuing efforts to remove it from consumer products such as baby bottles and canned food due to the chemical’s endocrine disrupting properties. However, there is another source of exposure that has not yet received as much attention so far – receipts printed on thermal paper coated with the chemical. Simply handling one at the end of a transaction can expose both the consumer and employee to BPA since it does not remain attached to the paper itself.
Green America, having found that about 93 percent of paper receipts are coated with BPA and bisphenol S (BPS), started a new initiative, “Skip the Slip,” to “analyze environmental impacts of receipt waste, propose financially-savvy alternatives to businesses to end their use of paper receipts, and engage customers in taking action.” Suggested actions include offering businesses the option of skipping the paper slip all together and educating employees about alternatives at work. If consumers must use receipts, they should “fold the receipt print side in, and place it in an envelope inside their bag. Employees should consider using gloves while handling receipts and should wash their hands before eating,” according to the article.
While the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences and National Toxicology Program are continuing to research the safety of BPA use in consumer products, Americans are still being exposed on a daily basis, and 93 percent of individuals above six years old have detectable levels in their urine. In 2015, the European Food Safety Authority lowered the allowable traceable body limits. Trader Joe’s publicly announced the shift to safer receipts in early 2018 in response to an Ecology Center study.
Peter Orris, MD, MPH, chief of occupational & environmental medicine at UI Health, and a senior advisor to Health Care Without Harm notes, “There is a global shift occurring. There are safer solutions out there that are good, efficient, and inexpensive and do not have to have negative effects on our health or environment.”
[Source: Chicago Health]