Killer Paper The Return: Receipts Contain Chemical Bisphenol A

From the "Be Scared. Be Very, Very Scared" category: The paper receipts you get from McDonalds, CVS/pharmacy, Walmart, and 33 other retailers are tainted with the endocrine-disrupting chemical BPA, which has been the target of nationwide efforts to ban it in food and beverage containers, especially those used by babies and children. Animal tests show that BPA, a plastics hardener that is also a synthetic estrogen, can cause reproductive and behavioral abnormalities and lower intellectual ability, as well as setting the stage for cancers, obesity, diabetes, asthma, and heart disease. 

WOW - so those little pieces of thermal paper are going to make me cry more often, act strangely, make dumb decisions and send me out of the store wheezing, short of breath? BPA is a known carcinogen that is also considered quite toxic to the human endocrine and nervous system as well as dangerous to the thyroid. Its potency has been studied by several public and private agencies and it's basically considered to be a poison. And according to a report from the FDA earlier this year, there are concerns for the health of fetuses, infants, and young children regarding exposure to BPA. Jane Houlihan, EWG's Senior Vice-President for Research: “A typical employee at any large retailer who runs the register could handle hundreds of contaminated receipts in a single day at work. 

While we do not know exactly what this means for people’s health, it’s just one more path of exposure to this chemical that seems to bombard every single person.” Thermal paper is the culprit and more companies are utilizing safer paper as you read this. The good news is, Target, Starbucks and Bank of America ATMs all remit safe receipts. So we can grab some cash, pick-up a Pike, and go buy some stuff from Target. Cool. Study Here. Click to email me.