Printed receipts you get from ATMs or grocery store may be toxic, warns report – Times of India
The receipts from grocery stores, ATM machines, and restaurant chains contain “toxic chemicals” such as bisphenol A, or BPA, claims a new research. According to the Ecology Center, a US non-profit working for environmental health, these receipt papers contain high concentrations of bisphenols, particularly bisphenol A (BPA) and bisphenol S (BPS) said to be linked to reproductive harm. The study warns that these receipts carry an under-recognised source of hormone-disrupting chemicals in our bodies.
For its report Ecology Center said, it tested 374 receipts from 144 major chain stores in 22 US states and the District of Columbia. The most common were grocery stores, restaurants, department stores, drugstores, and gas stations, among others. They found about 80 per cent receipts had the presence of bisphenol (BPS or BPA).
“Receipts are a common exposure route for hormone-disrupting bisphenols which readily absorb through the skin. Our studies show most retailers use bisphenol-coated receipt paper,” Melissa Cooper Sargent, environmental health advocate at the Ecology Center, said in a statement. “Switching to non-toxic paper is an easy shift. We urge retailers to stop handing out chemical-laced paper to their consumers and putting employees at risk,” she added.
The report also named safer chemical alternatives such as BPS in 20 per cent of receipts. However, the researchers said while BPS is marketed as a safer replacement for BPA, both are endocrine-disrupting chemicals linked to health issues, including cancer. Besides consumers, people working at these stores could be more at risk because their “potential exposure to endocrine disrupting BPS or BPA is constant”, the report said.
What can shoppers do
The Ecology Center recommends that consumers can decline printed receipts where possible, or wash their hands after taking a receipt. It further suggests that shoppers can fold the receipt with the printed side in, since the backside of the paper typically isn’t coated with the chemicals.
For its report Ecology Center said, it tested 374 receipts from 144 major chain stores in 22 US states and the District of Columbia. The most common were grocery stores, restaurants, department stores, drugstores, and gas stations, among others. They found about 80 per cent receipts had the presence of bisphenol (BPS or BPA).
“Receipts are a common exposure route for hormone-disrupting bisphenols which readily absorb through the skin. Our studies show most retailers use bisphenol-coated receipt paper,” Melissa Cooper Sargent, environmental health advocate at the Ecology Center, said in a statement. “Switching to non-toxic paper is an easy shift. We urge retailers to stop handing out chemical-laced paper to their consumers and putting employees at risk,” she added.
The report also named safer chemical alternatives such as BPS in 20 per cent of receipts. However, the researchers said while BPS is marketed as a safer replacement for BPA, both are endocrine-disrupting chemicals linked to health issues, including cancer. Besides consumers, people working at these stores could be more at risk because their “potential exposure to endocrine disrupting BPS or BPA is constant”, the report said.
What can shoppers do
The Ecology Center recommends that consumers can decline printed receipts where possible, or wash their hands after taking a receipt. It further suggests that shoppers can fold the receipt with the printed side in, since the backside of the paper typically isn’t coated with the chemicals.
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