Check Out With An Extra Source of BPA

Next time you check out at the grocery store – you might be getting a little more than you bargained for with your grocery total.

Like bisphenol-A  otherwise known as BPA.

Yep.

Add a few toxins to your total?

Turns out that thermal receipts may contain up to 1,000 times more BPA’s than the epoxy lining of a tin can – the most common known exposure to this prevalent toxin.  Granted – we’re not likely to wad up a receipt and chew it like a piece of gum – but have you ever handed it over to your toddler for entertainment on the way to the car?  Yep.  Me too.

A receipt taken from a store in the District contained 41 milligrams of the chemical. If the equivalent amount of BPA was ingested by a 155-pound adult, that would exceed EPA’s decades-old safe exposure limit for BPA by 12 times.

Current evidence suggests that low doses of the BPA can cause problem’s with the endocrine system.  Additional health concerns are linked to the reproductive problems and cancer.

So… we can’t stop buying groceries… but now that you know…

Here are some tips to stay safe when handling receipts:

• Don’t allow the receipts to be placed next to unwrapped foods.
• Wash your hands after handling receipts – BPA’s can transfer from the paper to your skin.  Logic then dictates… from your receipts to whatever you touch with your hands.
• Don’t allow children to play with thermal receipts.

Disputed chemical bisphenol-A found in paper receipts.