We already knew that bisphenol-A is found in baby bottles and food cans. But it's also present in the cash-register paper used by many businesses, and in much higher concentrations than those other sources.
The nonprofit Environmental Working Group had a few dozen receipts tested at the University of Missouri, and 40 percent of them had high levels of BPA. "Wipe tests" also were done, proving that some of the chemical can come off on your hands.
Since it's impossible to tell which brands of receipt paper have BPA and which don't, follow these tips after shopping:
- Don't hang onto the receipt. Record it in your checkbook register and get rid of it.
- But don't recycle it with the rest of your paper. A 2004 German study found BPA in recycled paper products, including toilet paper. So trash it.
- Wash your hands after disposing of the receipt.
- Don't let your kid play with it.
BPA is a synthetic chemical that mimics estrogen. It has been found in some plastic bottles and in epoxy used in the linings of metal cans. Studies on animals have found a link between BPA and a variety of health problems, including infertility, breast and prostate cancer, diabetes, weight gain and early onset puberty in children. A CDC study estimates that the chemical is present in 93 percent of people.
The Washington, D.C.-based EWG tested 36 receipts from various stores in D.C. and seven states, including California. Businesses included McDonald's, Walmart, Safeway, Whole Foods, Chevron, Bank of America, the U.S. Postal Service, Starbucks, KFC and cafeterias in the House of Representatives and U.S. Senate.
Among the receipts with detectable levels of BPA, Safeway had three: A D.C. store had 41 milligrams in its receipt. That's as much BPA as there is in 397 cans of Chef Boyardee Overstuffed Beef Ravioli in Hearty Tomato & Meat Sauce, which was one of the products that had the highest concentration in EWG's survey of canned foods in 2007. Another Safeway store, in Berkeley, had the highest concentration by weight -- 2.8 percent.
None of Bank of America's ATMs tested for discernible levels of BPA.
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