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December 8th, 2010
12:01 AM ET
Study finds bisphenol A on moneyA new report says Bisphenol A (BPA), the controversial hormone disrupting chemical widely used in plastics, is turning up in an unlikely place–the money in your wallet. Researchers suggest that BPA is rubbing off cashier receipts and onto bills, according to a report titled "On The Money: BPA on Dollar Bills and Receipts," published by the Safer Chemicals, Healthy Families, and the Washington Toxics Coalition (WTC). Ericka Schreder, a staff Scientist with WTC and author of the report, says lab tests confirm the chemical rubs off receipts onto the skin after holding it for just 10 seconds. WTC researchers first tested 22 thermal paper receipts collected from businesses in 10 states and the District of Columbia. Half contained higher than trace amounts of BPA. They also tested 22 $1 bills and found BPA on 21 of them. Schreder says contamination most likely occurs once receipts come in contact with money in places like wallets and cash register drawers. "Levels on dollar bills were lower than on receipts, but the fact that our currency is contaminated with a hormone-disrupting chemical illustrates how our current chemical law is failing us," Schreder says. "Even the most careful consumer can't avoid BPA when it's so pervasive that it even contaminates money." But Kathryn St. John, a BPA specialist at the American Chemistry Council says while some receipts made from thermal paper can have low levels of BPA, research shows it's safe. "To the limited extent BPA is absorbed through the skin, it is converted to a biologically inactive metabolite that is rapidly eliminated from the body," St. John said. "Biomonitoring data from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control shows that consumer exposure to BPA, which would include any exposure from receipts, is extremely low. Typical exposure from all sources is about 1,000 times below safe intake levels set by government bodies in Europe and the U.S. In comparison, the trace levels of BPA claimed to be present in dollar bills are insignificant." In July, The Environmental Working Group released a similar study about BPA and cash register receipts. EWG researchers tested 36 and found 40 percent had high levels of the chemical. Environmental groups and public health advocates have linked BPA to a number of serious health problems including cancer, diabetes, infertility, early puberty and heart disease. According to the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences at the National Institutes of Health (NIH), 93 percent of urine samples from people over the age of 6 have detectable levels of BPA, but research linking some health problems—particularly in adults–to the chemical has been inconclusive. Still, earlier this year the FDA said recent studies "provide reason for some concern about the potential effects of BPA on the brain, behavior, and prostate gland of fetuses, infants and children." Schreder says with the growing body of evidence, it's clear reform of the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA)–which gives the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) the authority to regulate chemicals–should be a priority. "We need to update the 1976 Toxic Substances Control Act with a new chemical law that both requires companies to provide health information on chemicals they produce and ensures that chemicals that can cause cancer, infertility, and other health problems can't be used in everyday products." soundoff (1,658 Responses)1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 Next »Leave a Reply to Raymond Deffell
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I don't have to worry about BPA, I'm broke!
LOL
I was going to say the same thing how many of us actually have hundred dollar bills in our wallet anymore?
I was wondering what was going to be this week's we're-all-going-to-die warning.
I wear surgical gloves all the time
Yah last time i had a dollar bill I received a papercut from it. From Hero to Zero no dolla dolla nothing, broke as a joke. Thanks whomever certainly not my money managing skills
Next they'll find it in surgical gloves!
quit thinking so small (yourself), what about people that handle thousands of these daily! Cashiers, bank tellers, ...
CNN should not publish this crap. I went to the "Washington Toxics Coalition" link and downloaded the pdf file containing their experimental methods. Their methods of extracting and analyzing the BPA were convoluted and poorly planned. There are far easier methods, less prone to background contamination. These guys are idiots.
This is a real argument in favor of money laundering! Seriously though, the chemical industry has lobbied for decades that "low level" exposure is not a problem. In short, they have been lying. (Big surprise.) We've got to start really confronting this situation and what it is doing to our future generations: http://organicconnectmag.com/wp/2010/11/philip-and-alice-shabecoff-environmental-toxins-and-our-children/
Great relevant comment, idiot!
The scary thing is when receipts are recycled with paper the chemical could end up in your toilet paper
ill just not poop..lol
You don't know how to use the three shells? This is the 21st century!
just another reason for all the wackos in the world to double up on xanax. fearing to touch anything and hooked on bottled water. humans today are turning to fragile freaks unable to touch peanuts etc etc etc.... avoiding disease in the end is bad thats why vaccines INFECT u so your body learns dont teach it anything and dead.
LMAO! 3 Shells! Be well 8-P
Most of the bottles for bottled water contain BPA, too.
Actually this exact process has inundated the Fox River watershed and surrounding water table in IL and WI with BPA.
The "Great Toothless One" has spoken!
You could always just use pages from Sarah Palin's book! But even those, I hear, are tainted with traces of ego.
Actually, BPA is not in bottled water bottles. Being in the water is another issue.
Doc, that depends on the bottle.
just don't wipe for over 10 seconds
its still going 2 get in ur skin cuzz u got 2 hold it when u wipe...so that wont work
I tried that in the bathroom today. I HELD paper and WIPED just under 9 seconds!!! No BPA for me.
Better living AND dying through chemistry.
Brought to you by Monsanto.
Amen
This is what America can expect to happen if the religious right are allowed into positions within the government where they can then relax the restrictions on big business so the corporate whigs can make an extra $100 while the American worker gets sick with cancers and then has to pay thousands of dollars for medical expenses.
What an ignorant comment. Religion has nothing to do with this. The "religious right" isn't in the white house now and I don't see the administration– or any Democrats– pushing to fix this. Not everything is a political debate, people.
What does whether they are religious or not have to do with the rest of your comment?? Please build me a bridge here because I can't see where you're going with that.
HB and Cheryl – If they are religious they don't have to take responsibility for anything. YOu hear it all the time "all the glory goes to god" or "it must have been gods will" You can't get much less responsible than that.
Dwight, your mom must have forced you to go church a few times, which has fostered a lifelong hatred of all things religious. Grow up and quit being so emo.
BPA is a false crisis, yet another political issue completely fabricated to get money and/or punish the people you don't like. BPA doesn't do anything to the body, as actual research has shown. The studies that showed a harmful effect from BPA all involved injecting massive amounts of BPA into lab rats, directly into the bloodstream. We don't get anywhere near that amount, and because our body doesn't absorb it, it's harmless. Unless you melt straight BPA and inject it repeatedly into your own veins, BPA will do absolutely nothing to you. In the meantime, trying to ban it will make our foods less safe, and contamination and sickness much more likely.
Obviously it's more important to corporations that they are on the right than it is that they are religious, but don't forget that religious people get to pick and choose which parts of science they think are true.
And to think, the DOD used to have us techs clean-up power supplies of electronic equipment where capactiors filled with the stuff had blown apart, spraying the thick, dark brown goo all over the place. They said that it was considered hazardous and to use precautions, but no one knew just how bad it really was. This was in the 1980's. I have everything on the list that its known to cause or aggravate... poor me for being so trusting.
For decades, the local power company took the blown transformers and buried them right along the MO river, even building a park on top of the toxic mess.
Actually, you're thinking of PCBs (polychlorinated biphenyls). Stop being afraid of three letter acronyms and do a little research.
Cash is SOOOOOO last century. Listen, If you're worried about your health, use your debt card. It's a great way to avoid the flu as well. Plus, you can account for every cent you spend. Donate to charites online.
And when the world system wants to rid all nations of cash and currencies, in favor of an electronically transmitted global currency...be the first in line to get your "mark". Be prepared to bow down to the beast.
Plan B architect, what do we do we do with the receipts?
Leroy – that's not a solution as you will now have the BPA tainted receipt in your pocket from your debit transaction. How about better governmental control over these toxic compounds that are used in every day life with very little regulation and oversight? What do you think makes clothes detegents smell the way they do? TOXIC CHEMICALS!! I agree with Erika Schreder above....We need reform on these issues!
using debit cards wont help at all, read the article, it gets on the cash from the paper reciepts, which you still get with a debit card. If you dont want to touch it, use cash and dont get a reciept.
Thats why i dont use cash that much anymore. Who knows whats been on it, from Cocaine, this stuff, or someone could have used it to wipe thier A** with it.
BPA is everywhere. It is one of the most important industrial products out there. Your epoxy resins use BPA as part of the glue,and polycarbonate is made by reacting BPA under phosgene gas (the WWI chemical weapon). If you use stuff, you come into contact with BPA. You also come into contact with potentially far worse things but let's play along with the media hysteria.
So does that mean asbestos was media hysteria, too?
Just because you've established the fact that it occurs everywhere doesn't mean it's safe.
ignorance is bliss. no testing needed, nothing hurts us.
As you will notice from the article, JB, there is no conclusive evidence of the dangers of BPA. There is however conclusive evidence of the dangers of asbestos. This is media hysteria at its finest. I think "Ummm"'s point was simply that reporting on BPA being in some new thing is just silly because it is everywhere.
"Media hysteria" is exactly what this is. As I said in an earlier post, there is no evidence that BPA poses any risk to human beings, because (a) we aren't exposed to that much of it over the course of our lifetimes, and (b) any BPA that we ingest is not absorbed by the body, but is eliminated as waste. All the studies purporting to show a harmful effect from BPA didn't study what actually happens when we ingest it. They only showed that injecting massive amounts of BPA directly into our bloodstreams was not a good idea, and who does that? This is a non-issue, and I really have no idea why this hasn't been dropped as a legitimate issue.
So quiting smoking is really going to do me no good after all?
I don't think there is nearly enough media concern or "hysteria" on BPA. The "safe levels" referred to by industry are known to be a sham. With hormones, very small levels can be more powerful than large dosages, but our government groups only look at levels that cause "toxicity", which does not include hormonal effects.
In addition, EVERY scientific study conducted on BPA, and not sponsored by the chemical industry, has shown it to be harmful. Even the chemical industry ones have only shown it to be get into the body at less than "toxic" levels. So, the asbestos comparison is actually very valid.
Yes, it was harmful to rats, after injection of about 200 mg/kg. In my body weight, that's equivalent to ingesting about 75 tylenol pills and concluding that tylenol is bad for you and should be taken off the market.
I Love $$$$$$. Obama likes $$$$. He sides with republicans because by the time he leaves office he will be a billionaire. hear him saying " politically it makes sense, economically, this country will be Bankrupt"
Overall studies on the dangers of BPA have never been conclusive. All of the studies have been way too biased in their result findings. While it does leech out of some polymers under certain occasions, its a hell of a lot better than heavy metal poisoning.
How about no poisoning?
How about not posining us at all? Wouldn't aht be nice.
I worked in Industry for years and was poisned for years and lied to about it. I really don't think they have done ah=ny thing to deserve trust.
Great headline, yet no one has actually proven that it is toxic to human at those levels. Every thing is toxic at some dose. Water can kill you if you drink enough.
drinking too much water and drowning for doing so is not poisonous, it's stupid, but not poisonous.
having water sit in plastic bottles containing BHA will make it poisonous. drinking soda with artificial coloring that is carcinogenic, then adding another carcinogen such as BHA to the mix is poisonous. paying for these products in cash that contains BHA and collecting the said receipt containing BHA is dangerous. we are bombarded with more then one carinogen over and over again and by "safe amounts" that they eventually build up in our systems as a "big threat" to our health. tackle that on to a ridiculously poor lack of nutrients and vitamins in our current diets (thank you Monsanto and company), is what is wrong with this country. adding another poison to our systems and claiming it as "media hype" is poisonous to our society. and stupid.
Fear mongering at it's best. Dirty money is nothing new.
I hear dollar bills have cocaine on them. We should not be allowed to know anything about all this because we are sheeple.
I don't know about you lot, but my money never sticks around long enough for me to hold it for 10 seconds anyway...thanks Tax-Man. And those receipts, they get tossed into a drawer, never to be seen again. Fear-mongering is taking over this country, FFS!
I am going to eat some tuna and think about this.
Pass the PBDE-contaminated butter, please.
Why is BPA on our reciepts,seems like they shouldnt even be allowed to have that come in contact with reciept paper b/c were going to handle reciepts too.
It's used to print them. Kinda necessary.
"Even the most careful consumer can't avoid BPA when it's so pervasive that it even contaminates money."
REALLY...
IT's called a DEBIT CARD ! ! ! !
Hey Greg, Use your debit card all you want...IT'S ON THE RECEIPTS!!!!!
It's probably in the plastic on your debit card, too
So, is thermal paper cash register made in China by any chance??
LOL! Probably 😉
You see i got stopped for a traffic violation in fl due to me being a male i was considered to selling drugs canine was called to search car nothing was found but took monies from my person three gees sayin the dogs alerted on monies tests proved there was tracing of cocaine on it wow i dont do coke can it be just like the hormone drug on money now never got my money back either
Sounds like you got robbed, not sure why you let them take your money unless they had a valid point...seems like you didn't put up much of a fight.
Yeah, you got ripped. There's cocaine on almost every bill in circulation, it proves nothing.
BPA and cocaine on our money..which one wins?
Its in bottled water if left in the sun.
Anybody notice that despite all this stuff that kills you, we're living longer. Maybe it's on our fingers because it's in our keyboards.
That's only because our medicines and medical practices are keeping people alive longer.
Actually the generation that is in their 30s is probably going to live shorter than their predecessors, maybe even our kids' generations as well- people are getting fatter younger and with all the medical turmoil that entails 🙁
What about all the other germs and crap that reside on money. We were always told growing up that money was dirty, considering the amount of hands money passes through every day. It sits in your wallet, which for most men means pressed up against your butt, or in the case of women, inside what would be considered an unorganized dirty purse. Its not as if money should be clean and sterile
How can one say it best. Get a life, if BPA residue worries you on a dollar bill, you had better not look at what else can be found on a dollar bill, or any paper money. I would say use plastic, but then again some consider that toxic, I guess we could go to coins and sterilize then between transactions.
Actually it is a pretty good comment. While you're at it make iPhones illegal because Steve Jobs has yet to donate any of his billions to save the world, meanwhile Bill Gates donated $10 Billion for vaccine research, the largest donation in the history of the WORLD!
Can someone tell those guys to stop poisoning us? thanks.
and guess where else your dollar bill could have been? think about strip clubs! yuck
seems kinda fishey doesnt it? lol
giggidy....
So Cashiers would be in graver danger, has Kathryn St. John thought about that? While we as a consumer might come in contact for 10 seconds a day, the cashier is coming in contact with every receipt the cashier produces and hands to the customer. Maybe the customer should now take their own receipt without the cashier having to hand it to them.
Further, while the body does eliminate the substance, that does not mean that some harm isn't being done each time. It affects hormones which affect all our bodily functions. Is this where more cancer is coming from? Look in the paper, more and more 40 and 50 year olds are passing all the time.
Well, I guess, as with lead paint, I won't be licking my dollar bills or rubbing them all over my skin. Really, this story is ridiculous.
I see BPA, WTC, NIH, FDA, TSCA and U.S.....Can I get an ABC from anyone??? How about doing what most do if they are that afraid of touching money, wash your hands...use a hand sanitizer...or if you are that paranoid, then send someone else to do the shopping and stay buried in your house as a recluse. If we stop doing everything the world tells us will kill us, then yeah...I can guarantee you will die. Just from sitting in front of the T.V. and eating chips. Sorry, I would rather get out and live than to worry about something like this.
To you, and Katya below: hand-washing wouldn't work. It's absorbed into the skin after 10 seconds or less. Read, please.
U think BPA is toxic just eat mcdonalds food. One way or another there are to many toxic things in this world. Cell phones r very bad for u when u talk but that doesnt stop us from using them. One way or another just wash ur hands often and get over it.
Are you saying that people will go out and make and buy BPA so they can smoke it? Bill's right.. what a horrible comment.
Tell me an object which I touch or use , does not have a trace of harmful chemical. BTW who defines "harmful" and does it have the same meaning and acceptance among everyone.
lmao some of u guys r funny as hell. wiping ur butt with money or having this thing on our toilet paper . people nothing eva happens. its in ur head. if ur meant 2 get sick u will get sick
It's OK I launder money for my friends
like i know pple who smoke n drink allday everyday live longer than pple that didnt drink or smoke. u will die when ur supposed to. same as u will get sick if ur supposed to. all these years n nothing has happened. but i bet pple r going to come down with some kind of disease now because of this article
You're broke because you didn't finish school. Go back, and spare us the misery of reading your words.
yeah make it legal so we can have many more people in the work place that stand around forgetting why they are there, unable to make a decision, staring into nothing... awesome future american workforce to stupid to work, just sit around collecting unemployment thanks china for doing what fat lazy stoned americans cant do anymore.
Sounds like you were a lightweight when you smoked in the 80's.
This is scary to me everything seems to be contaminated these days from fruits , vegetables to bills and receipts what has the work come to ! Check out my health and fitness blog http://razzlea.blogspot.com/
Lets prohibit thermal receipts! We can't have BPA getting on our kids lunch money.. I think the DEA needs to handle this one! DEA Where are you, use your emergency powers and stop this once and for all!
Oh wait... You tend to ban the less harmful things (Marijuana) , I forgot.
I think this is absolutely deplorable! Our government isn't protecting us from squat they are protecting the interests of chemical companies. At this rate we will have made ourselves all chemically sterile in 50 years. Just look at the number of fertility clinics that have popped up in the last 10 years and how many women are having issues carrying to full term. The writing is on the wall people.
The real question should be whether infertility has actually increased, or just fertility clinics. Infertility has been an issue when a portion of the human population throughout human history. But in the last ten or twenty years, we've been able to come up with brand-new solutions to this age-old problem. Fertility clinics are popping up because we can actually solve the problem now, not because the problem is getting worse.
Unfortunately no one wants to hear the truth as long as it does not immediately effect them. Just like smokers that continue to smoke despite cancern warnings, drivers that continue to txt and driver despite the countless accidents where people were killed over a txt message.
it is the lords will
I don't know why society lets itself get so dumbed down but it's absolutely shameful we have become a nation of consumption with no regard to any consequences of our decisions or actions. We are lied to consistently by corporations and our gov and everyone believes it
all is going 2 end in 2012. BPA Or not. itS almost time. the end is 2yrs away pple. touch ur money as much as u want. we wont have money 2 touch on december 22 2012
So on Dec. 23rd 2012 we can all start to panic again?
Bill Gates and vaccines?? Haha what a crock vaccines and flu shots carry cancer.that hasn't made the world better do a search on Merck cancer and vaccines. Vaccines also carry HIV thus is all man made check it out yourself!
Wow your right look up merck cancer HIV on you tube
I'll be damned you guys are right no more flu shots for me!
Stop spreading dangerous rumors and misinformation about vaccines! Your risk of being contaminated by a dirty vaccine is much less than being struck by lightening. The fact is, vaccines of all kinds save tens of millions of lives every year, all over the world. They'd save millions more, if fools like you would stop spreading fear and ignorance. By intentionally misinforming people about vaccines that could save their lives, you are contributing to their development of lethal illness. In other words, you are indirectly contributing to their deaths.
Seriously people, small traces of a chemical that has only a limited chance of causing health problems in your lifetime gets you worried? Do you want to know how many different kind of bacteria and viruses are also on that dollar bill, or handrails, or doorknobs, or just in the air you breathe in near others? And do you know how many chemicals linked to health problems are approved and freely distributed in your food?
I'm not saying we shouldn't do something about chemicals that cause health problems, I am saying that trace amounts on dollar bills are a minor concern relative to other, more prevalent ones.
Money makes you gay these days? Who would have thunk it!
keithtexas not gods fault its supposed 2 happen that way. domino effect my friend if one thing doesnt happen than the other wont. all in its time.
OH GOD RUN FOR YOUR LIVES!!!! Well that's it folks we are all going to die untimely deaths. Is it just me or is this just another way the media is trying to scare the fudge out of us?
There have been no studies which prove BPA is toxic in any way. Since 100% of the people who have cancer also breathe, should we ban the air? Hey, they also sleep, so let's stop people from sleeping, too. This is ridiculous. Stop funding these pseudo-scientific organizations. Guess what, the universe is full of chemicals, so stop being afraid of them and start finding ways to enjoy your lives.
Exactly.....but this is just another way the media can scare the crap out of dumb people.
IM sorry, what chemicals are you referring to that occur naturally in the universe and are all around us???
amen 2 that chemical J rite on brother or sister