We’ve known for a while that there is BPA in cash register receipts and that it can transfer to your fingers and on to paper money and credit cards.
Now a new study shows that clerks who handle receipts all day long are absorbing the chemical through their skin.
“researchers measured the levels of BPA in the volunteers’ urine. Roughly four in five of the participants had BPA in the blood before the trial; once they had handled receipts, all of the volunteers showed levels of BPA. In addition, the volunteers’ levels of BPA continued to rise for eight hours once they had stopped handling the receipts.”
Source: CINCINNATi,COM: Study: Receipts may expose clerks to chemical
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“”almost all” commercially available plastics that were tested leached synthetic estrogens—even when they weren’t exposed to conditions known to unlock potentially harmful chemicals, such as the heat of a microwave, the steam of a dishwasher, or the sun’s ultraviolet rays. According to Bittner’s research, some BPA-free products actually released synthetic estrogens that were more potent than BPA.”
Read this very long and detailed article about Tritan, a so-called BPA-free plastic.
Source: MOTHER JONES: The Scary New Evidence on BPA-Free Plastics
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“A pair of new studies…suggest bisphenol A (BPA)…is causing serious bodily harm—even at very tiny doses such as those commonly detected in the human body.
“This study, published in the journal PLOS One, is just the latest case suggesting BPA can travel from a pregnant mother into her unborn child. Emerging science is finding that when this chemical transfer occurs during critical windows of fetal development, it could lead to irreversible effects that may only show up in diseases that strike years or decades down the line.
“The scientists fed pregnant animals BPA-laced fruit once a day for 50 days, bringing their bodily BPA levels to those commonly seen in humans. While BPA was only detectable in their babies’ fetal blood for a brief, several-hour period, scientists observed some devastating changes in the babies—abnormalities in the fetal brains, lungs, mammary glands, uterus, and ovaries. These changes were not seen in unexposed monkey fetuses.
“Since BPA is a hormone-disrupting chemical that acts like fake estrogen in the body, it’s able to get into all of the developing organs, damaging the body’s natural control system, potentially throwing off those systems forever, and leading to diseases like cancer, behavioral problems, and infertility—among other things—many scientists believe.
- “Avoid canned food. Instead, opt for fresh or frozen.
- Avoid eating and drinking out of plastic, particularly #7 polycarbonate plastic.
- Don’t heat plastics in the microwave—ever.
- Say no to cash-register receipt. Most are loaded with BPA that is readily absorbed through your skin and likely poorly metabolized.”
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Here are just a few things BPA is doing to your body:
- Eroding teeth
- Misfiring hearts
- Lowering sex drive
- Making you fat
- Affecting future generations
I love Debra and all the information about toxicity that is provided on this site. I read the article by “Mother Jones” and became rather concerned because my family drinks often from BPA Free Nalgene bottles made from Tritan. I looked on the Eastman website (the maker of Tritan Nalgene bottles) and found that there was a federal court hearing on July 24, 2013 . All the information about it is provided on the Eastman site (under Tritan Safe, “Faqs”. Then there is a link about the lawsuit in the last paragraph) . Suffice to say, my family will still use Nalgene BPA Free bottles and I want to remind others to read more than one article when researching.