notsomuchlove: High Levels Of BPA Found In Cash Register Receipts

Once again environmental toxins are lurking where we least expect it. The Environmental Working Group has uncovered extremely high levels of BPA in over 40% of the cash register receipts that it examined from supermarkets, ATMs, gas stations, banks etc.

BPA is a plastic component that has been making headlines as consumers press for a federal ban on food packaging made with this synthetic estrogen shown to leach readily into infant formula, beverages and canned food. But according to the EWG most Americans are probably unaware that they are regularly exposed to the same endocrine-disrupting chemical in cash registers receipts.

The EWG reports:

"Major retailers using BPA-containing receipts in at least some outlets included McDonald's, CVS, KFC, Whole Foods, Walmart, Safeway and the U.S. Postal Service. Receipts from some major chains, including Target, Starbucks and Bank of America ATMs, issued receipts that were BPA-free or contained only trace amounts.

Scientists have not determined how much of a receipt's BPA coating can transfer to the skin and from there into the body. Possibilities being explored include:

Oral exposure -- BPA moves from receipts onto fingers and then onto food and into the mouth.
Dermal exposure -- BPA from receipts is directly absorbed through the skin into the body.

A study published July 11 by Swiss scientists found that BPA transfers readily from receipts to skin and can penetrate the skin to such a depth that it cannot be washed off (Biedermann 2010). This raises the possibility that the chemical infiltrates the skin's lower layers to enter the bloodstream directly. BPA has also been shown to penetrate skin in laboratory studies (Kaddar 2008)."

Read the full article here.