Handling of Thermal Receipts as a Source of Exposure to endocrine disruptor Bisphenol A (2014/02/28)

Human exposure to bisphenol A (BPA) has been associated with adverse health outcomes, including reproductive function in adults and neurodevelopment in children exposed perinatally.
Exposure to BPA is primarily through dietary ingestion, including consumption of canned foods.
A less-studied source of exposure is thermal receipt paper, handled daily by many people at supermarkets, ATM machines, gas stations, and other settings. Researchers hypothesized that handling of thermal receipts significantly increases BPA exposure, but use of gloves during handling minimizes exposure.

 

 

Bisphenol A (BPA) occurs in 94 percent of thermal cash register receipts, scientists are reporting.
The recycling of those receipts, researchers add, is a source of BPA contamination of paper napkins, toilet paper, food packaging and other paper products.
A report, which could have special implications for cashiers and other people who routinely handle thermal paper receipts, appears in ACS’ journal Environmental Science & Technology ( Recycled thermal cash register receipts spread BPA to other paper products - 20/12/2011).

For the new study ( Handling of Thermal Receipts as a Source of Exposure to Bisphenol A ) Shelley Ehrlich and her colleagues recruited 24 Harvard School of Public Health students and staff between 2010 and 2011. The participants were at least 18 years old and not pregnant.

First, the participants were asked to handle receipts for two hours with their bare hands. After at least one week, they were asked to handle receipts again while wearing gloves.

Before they handled the receipts, the researchers found that 20 of the 24 participants' urine samples had small but measurable amounts of BPA. After the first experiment, BPA was present in all urine samples, though at levels that remained within national averages.

The concentration of BPA in the urine samples had increased, though by an amount equivalent to about a quarter of what would be expected from eating canned soup, for example.

After waiting a week and having the participants handle receipts for two hours while wearing gloves, the researchers found no significant increase in the BPA levels in the participants' urine samples afterwards.

The participants were asked to handle receipts for two hours for one week only.

For more information
Recycled thermal cash register receipts spread BPA to other paper products

JAMA - The Journal of the American Medical Association
Handling of Thermal Receipts as a Source of Exposure to Bisphenol A

Harvard School fo Public Health

American Chemical Society

MDN