Cashiers handling receipts had potentially risky concentrations of BPA, two chemical relatives
Handling grocery receipts may cost extra — at least in terms of health risks, a new study suggests.
Two chemicals in receipt paper that replace the toxic compound bisphenol A, or BPA, are just as capable of soaking into the human body as their predecessor, researchers report August 25 in Environmental Health Perspectives. The study marks the first time that one of the two compounds, BPSIP, or 4-hydroxyphenyl 4-isoprooxyphenylsulfone, has been documented in consumer goods and humans, says coauthor Kristina Thayer, a toxicologist.
The findings raises concern because the two chemicals, BPSIP and its relative bisphenol S, or BPS, may have the same health risks as BPA. BPA is used to make tough, durable plastics and epoxy resins, but it is also a hormone-mimicking chemical associated with cancer, obesity and cardiovascular diseases.
“Replacing BPA with BPS is just crazy,” says developmental