New Study Finds BPA on 95% of Dollar Bills Tested–Receipts Probable Source, Study Says
Women’s Voices for the Earth
December 8, 2010
A new study was released today giving new meaning to the phrase “toxic assets.” “On The Money: BPA on Dollar Bills and Receipts” researched by the nonprofit groups Safer Chemicals, Healthy Families and the Washington Toxics Coalition, set out to investigate the extent to which thermal receipt paper containing bisphenol A (BPA) has permeated the market, and whether this hormone-disrupting chemical is escaping onto the money that lies close to these receipts in people’s wallets.
Researchers found that half of the thermal paper receipts tested had large quantities of unbound BPA; 95% of the dollar bills tested positive for lower amounts. Unlike BPA in baby bottles and other products, BPA on thermal paper isn’t chemically bound in any way: it’s a powdery film on the surface of receipts. Data from this report indicate that this highly toxic chemical does not, in fact, stay on the paper, but rather easily transfers to our skin and likely to other items that it rubs against.
